Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds
by Fat Zombie
Summary: The defeat of Ultimecia brings Garden unparalelled fame, but the six souls that saved the world have new matters to attend to, on a personal level and as a team. Rated PG13 for some offensive language and violence. CHAPTER 13 NOW UP.
1. Return of the Tyrant

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Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 1 - Return Of The Tyrant

DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy VIII, and it's characters are all property of Squaresoft Inc. Further to that, several names of places or objects may also be the property of Squaresoft, and do not belong to me.

Any other characters that appear within the following story, and are not in the game are copyright of the author. (That's ME!)

NOTE: If you wish to reproduce this fiction in any way, please contact the author before you do so.

No Copyright infringement intended.

P.S - The songs parts have nothing to do with the story. They are merely tracks I have been listening to while writing this story. A kind of thank you to those bands and artists I suppose. That and I think they in some way relate to the chapter as well.

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

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Enemy decides who I will be,

Now I'm penalised and lost,

Can't find the end of me,

I've got one life to live in this world I've sinned in.

Taken from [minus] - Enemy

* * *

Squall walked up the steps towards the elevator of Balamb Garden. To his left he could hear shouting, emanating from the cafeteria. He turned to investigate, and was confronted by Zell, running as fast as he could towards Squall's vicinity. The biggest food-fight in the history of Garden could be seen behind Zell, as could Xu running at full pace. 

Zell stopped at the edge of the large pond that surrounded the elevator. Squall watched as his eyes darted around. Finding no escape route by which he would not be seen, Zell took a deep breath and dived into the pond. Xu came dashing up to the area, and scanned around for any signs of the martial arts expert.

"Have you seen Dincht?" Xu asked Squall.

"I, Uh" Squall replied, quickly glancing at the blurry mass situated under the surface of the water.

Xu slowly rolled up her sleeve and plunged her arm into the water. She reached down and then, finding her target, pulled Zell back out of the water by the collar of his shirt.

"Oh man" Zell spluttered as he gasped for air.

"C'mon you half-wit" said Xu. "The next time you choose to start a food-fight, I'd suggest you not throw a piece of cauliflower at the Chief of Supplies head".

"I wasn't trying to start a food fight" explained Zell. "I was merely protesting at the fact that we had been served something that no one likes".

"You were protesting by throwing it at me?" questioned Xu.

"It seemed to be the easiest way to get the message across at the time" answered Zell. "It all started because I hit that big guy instead of you, and he threw something back at me".

"Are you trying to blame someone else now?" asked Xu.

"No, it was because you ducked out of the way that the big guy got hit, and it just went off from there" Zell paused in thought. "So in a way, you really messed up on this one".

This forced a fierce frown from Xu, which in turn wiped the grin off of Zell's face. She dragged him around the edge of the pond and up the steps towards the elevator. The doors slid open and she entered, still pulling Zell behind her. Squall followed them in, trying to avoid getting too close to the soaked form of Zell. Xu pushed the button to take the elevator to the bridge, and it slowly began to glide upwards.

"I'm cold" Zell whined as the air conditioning activated while the elevator continued upwards.

"Well you should have thought about that before you went for your little swim, shouldn't you" Xu replied sarcastically.

The elevator gently bumped to a stop at the third floor, and the doors slid open. All occupying it walked out, and split their separate ways.

"Not so fast" Xu said, quickly grabbing hold of Zell. "You're coming with me to see Cid".

Squall walked over to a desk at the side of the room, and sat down in front of a console that was situated on the table. He typed in his access codes and began to search through the roster of active SeeD members for candidates for upcoming missions. He scanned down the list of names in alphabetical order, only paying to the 'Surname' and 'Active/Inactive' columns. He scrolled down through the 'A's', and noticed the name Almasy.

Squall was surprised to see that his record hadn't been deleted. He was about move to the next record when something caught his eye. The word 'ACTIVE' was shown clearly in the corresponding column. He brought up the full details on the console, in an attempt to gain some understanding for the situation.

****

SeeD Member File - Restricted Access

Name: - Seifer Almasy

Age: - 19

Active/Inactive: - Active

History: - Former Disciplinary Committee Member

- Went AWOL after an un-successful SeeD field exam

- Served as Sorceress Edea's Knight

- Discharged as a result of previous actions

- Reinstated and placed under the supervision of Instructor Trepe

- Reinstated by request of Instructor Trepe

Additional Information: - Expert Tactician and Gunblade Specialist

Squall closed the file and logged off the console with a smash on the keyboard. He got up and walked into the elevator, impatiently jabbing the button for the second floor. Just as he did so Zell came down from the bridge.

"Hey Squall, wait up" Zell called out. Squall gave Zell a stern look, which stopped him in his tracks as the elevator began to drop downwards. "OK" said Zell. "I know when to stay away".

Zell pushed the button by the door and waited for the elevator to return to his current floor.

'Wonder what's wrong with him' Zell thought. He was awoken from his momentary daze as the air conditioning from the left blew a stream of cool air out of the elevator as its doors opened. He pushed the button for the first floor and watched the Garden entrance from the high perspective of the elevator. The front path was brimming with activity. Countless people walked through the gates, and many were sat on the benches that lined the edges of the path. The elevator again omitted a soft bump to signify its arrival on the first floor, and Zell stepped out as the doors opened. He looked to his left while walking towards the steps, to see how many people were going to the training center. After spotting only a few, he turned back towards the steps. He was confronted by a girl with dark shoulder length hair, which also encompassed lighter, almost blonde streaks through its length. She wore a SeeD uniform, and was currently falling up the steps towards him.

"Whoa, easy now" said Zell as he caught her. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah" she replied in a slightly embarrassed tone. "Thanks" she added before continuing on her way to the elevator.

Zell's glance stayed transfixed on the girl, even after she entered the elevator. Zell didn't move until she had been carried upwards and out of his view. He was knocked out of his trance as a SeeD cadet pushed past him and knocked his shoulder.

'That was weird' thought Zell confusedly.

* * * *

Squall walked briskly down the corridor towards the classroom.

"Quistis" he growled as he walked through the door.

"Squall" answered a surprised Quistis. "I've got a class" she finished, nodding her head towards the forty SeeD students now all staring at Squall.

"Dismissed" said Squall, addressing the whole class. The class continued to stare at Squall confusedly. "You're all dismissed" he said impatiently.

The class didn't need to be told again. All forty cadets stood up and made their way out of the room as quickly as they could.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Quistis angrily. Having just become an instructor again, she didn't appreciate people interrupting her lessons. "You should _not_ be disrupting their classes, their exams are in two weeks".

"Will Seifer be taking those exams?" Squall asked.

Quistis blinked and looked away.

"What" said Squall. "You thought I wouldn't find out?"

Quistis continued to stare down at her desk, and didn't reply.

"So what's the deal?" Squall asked. "Why have you brought him back".

"Haven't you noticed the quality of cadets we're getting" Quistis explained. "We'll be lucky to get more than two graduates out of the class that just left, we need more good-".

"That's bullshit" Squall interupted. "We need more good cadets so you bring back a failed one".

"He's got a lot of good qualities" argued Quistis.

"And a lot more bad ones" Squall argued back. "He's doesn't work in a team, he doesn't follow orders and he doesn't care about anyone else but himself".

"That's not _completely_ true" said Quistis.

"I haven't seen much evidence to prove me wrong" stated Squall.

"Then I'll get you some" said Quistis quickly.

"You expect me to stand by while you endanger the lives of the cadets he's teamed with?" asked Squall.

Quistis did nothing but glare at him.

"I just hope, for everyone's sake, that you know what you're doing" sighed Squall while stepping backwards and raising his hands, as he left the room.

"So do I" Quistis quietly said to herself.

* * * *

"HEY, NIDA" someone called. Nida looked up to see Zell jogging towards him.

"Oh, hey Zell" acknowledged Nida.

"Hi" said Zell, sitting down. "Listen I want to ask you something".

"Oh" replied Nida. "Okay then, shoot".

"Well, Uh" Zell struggled to ask the question. He'd never talked to anyone about this kind of thing before. "Have you ever looked at someone, and for the whole time you could see them, it was like everything else stopped, and there was nothing else outside of that person?"

"Why?" asked Nida cautiously.

"Well" Zell paused uncomfortably. "Because that just happened to me".

"Who?" Nida asked.

"I don't know" replied Zell.

"Excuse me" Nida said flatly.

"I don't know" Zell repeated himself. "I've never seen her before".

"Well now that could cause a problem" said Nida. "What does she look like?" he asked. "Maybe I know her".

"Uh, she's got dark hair with streaks of blonde-like colour through it, down to her shoulders" answered Zell.

"I might know who you're talking about" stated Nida.

"Well, who?" Zell asked impatiently.

"Nevaeh Tarik, I think her name was" answered Nida. "She transferred here from the new Trabian academy a few weeks ago".

"How do you know her?" asked Zell.

"I had to show her around the Garden when she transferred here" Nida explained. "She's entered as a SeeD, so I suppose she took all her exams at the academy".

Zell sat silently in thought, resting his head on his hand. Nida also sat in silence, grinning at Zell.

"What you grinning at?" asked Zell suddenly.

"Me?" asked Nida. "I'm just realizing that our little Zell is growing up".

"You know they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit" stated Zell.

"The only people who say that are the one's that can't use it" replied Nida smugly.

"Yeah, well" said Zell, feeling beaten. "You can't tell anyone".

"Tell anyone what?" said Nida, while smiling.

"That's it" said Zell. "Just keep it that way".

"Don't worry" said Nida. "You're secrets safe with me".

Nida stood up, nodded a goodbye to Zell and turned away towards the doorway.

"Oh" said Nida suddenly, turning back around to face Zell. "If you don't want anyone to know that something's up, then I wouldn't sit in the library for too much longer" he suggested. "Because someone's definitely gonna realise something's not straight".

"Oh right, thanks" replied Zell, this time not detecting the sarcasm in Nida's statement.

Nida merely rolled his eyes and headed out of the library. Zell sat for while, confused by Nida's reaction, but then decided to leave so as not to create any more suspicion. As Zell left the library, he saw Squall exiting the elevator.

"SQUALL" he called out as he ran over to the foot of the steps.

"Oh, hi Zell" Squall replied in a laboured manner.

"Hey, why so glum" Zell asked.

"Not glum, angry" answered Squall bluntly.

"Still?" Zell said, without thinking. "Uh, I mean, why?"

"I'll tell you at the cafeteria" answered Squall. "You wanna go and get a hot dog?"

"They still got some?" Zell asked excitedly.

"Don't tell anyone but" said Squall, leaning towards Zell. "I got the cook to keep some of them back for senior SeeD members".

"Ah, see" said Zell. "That Commandership of yours does have its benefits" he said while smiling, as the two made their way towards the cafeteria.

* * * *

"How's it goin' teach?" said Seifer, while leaning against doorway of the classroom.

Quistis, who had not noticed him until now looked up from her desk.

"Oh" she sighed. "Hello Seifer".

"Well thanks for the warm welcome" he said sarcastically.

"Sorry" said Quistis, now seeming a little more interested. "Welcome back".

"You know, you're about the first person who's made the effort to say that to me today" said Seifer. "The people here are just as rude as they were a year ago".

"Yes, well that's not without reason" stated Quistis.

"Well, I suppose so" admitted Seifer. "But I wasn't myself then".

"Let's hope not" said Quistis authoritatively. "Because I'm warning you-"

"You're warning me?" interupted Seifer. "Listen instructor, you don't serve as a Sorceress' Knight and learn nothing" he explained. "I can follow orders now, I followed Edea's".

"Well we all would have better off if you hadn't in that instance wouldn't we" retorted Quistis. "And you seem to have retained your bad attitude".

"I prefer to term it as confident" said Seifer.

"Or just plain arrogant as most people would see it" Quistis quickly added. "I've now been set the task of getting rid of that arrogance, and I'd like some co-operation on your side if you don't mind".

"It all depends on your perception" argued Seifer. "I'm good at what I do and I know it, and that's why people don't like me".

"So everyone else has to adjust for you?" asked Quistis flatly.

"They have to accept me as the way I am" stated Seifer. "I'm not asking them to change, and I'm not going to change" he explained, moving from his leaning position to a fully upright one. "It's as simple as that" he added, while turning and walking through the door.

Quistis sat and rested her head on her hands in thought. Was he right, and no one was giving him a chance? Or was it that he loved confrontation so much, that he engaged in every form of it whenever he could? Quistis couldn't work it out.

* * *

Author's Note: - So, what do you think? This is really just a small part of the story. Depending on the reaction I get, more will go up soon. I have much more of the story done, it's just not all stored on my computer yet. Like I said, if this first part gets a good reaction, then more will be coming soon. Reviews are welcome, but constructive criticism only please. Anyone that just writes a whole load of offensive crap will be wasting no one else's time but their own. 

The next chapter should see the proper introduction of Nevaeh and a new mission for the SeeD team.

C ya...


	2. First Impressions

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Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 2 - First Impressions

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

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I've been searching for you,

I heard a cry within my soul,

I've never had a yearning quite like this before,

Now that you are walking right through my door.

Taken from Lenny Kravitz - Again

* * *

"There you go" said Squall as he put a tray carrying two soda's and several hot dogs on the table. Zell smiled and rubbed his hands together.

"So" he said, taking a bite of one of the hot dogs. "What were you so _angry_ about?"

"Seifer's coming back" Squall explained. "He may already be here".

Zell sat and stared in disbelief, as a piece of hot-dog fell out of his open mouth. "Say what" he finally managed to blurt out.

"He's coming back to study under Quistis" Squall confirmed.

"Who the hell's brain storm was that?" Zell asked.

"Hers" Squall replied simply.

"Quistis?" said a surprised Zell, a little louder than he intended.

"She says it's because we've had a shortage of graduates recently" explained Squall. Zell nodded in agreement with the statement. "She thinks that if she can tackle his attitude problems, he'll become a good SeeD".

"What the hell does she think she's doing" asked Zell, again a little louder than originally intended.

"I don't know" answered Squall. "I hope she does".

Zell sat looking at the ceiling for a moment. It seemed he had lost interest as he often did in conversations of this type. "Maybe she's got an ulterior motive for all this" he said suddenly.

"What?" Squall said confusedly.

"Think about it" said Zell, uncharacteristically coherent. "When we were all students, who was she looking out for all the time?"

"Well, Seifer" answered Squall. "But that was because he was constantly causing trouble".

"That's what she says" Zell argued. "She also once said he was one of the most troubled students she'd ever encountered, so why would she bring him back?"

"What are you getting at?" said Squall.

"Look at it this way, when you say he's comin' back to study under Quistis, maybe he really will be studying _under_ Quistis" Zell explained. "Hell, maybe his attitude _will_ change with that".

"You seem to have put an awful lot of thought into this" said Squall.

"I'm more complex than you think" stated Zell. Squall leaned back in his seat and frowned. Those words seemed strangely familiar. "But trust me" Zell said, regaining Squall's attention. "I'm putting an awful lot more thought into other things at the moment".

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Squall.

"Well-" Zell started before he was interupted by a loud speaker crackling to life.

"Squall, please report to the bridge immediately" the speaker stated, before fading into silence with a ringing of chimes.

"A commanders work is never done, eh" said Zell jokingly. "Well if you need me I'll be here with the hot dogs".

Squall gave Zell a nod and half-smile as he stood up and made his way out of the cafeteria. He walked briskly, eager to get whatever had to be done out of the way as quickly as possible. As he reached the top of the steps in the main hall, the elevator doors opened and Quistis stepped out. She looked at Squall, but Squall turned away to look at nothing in particular.

"Squall, this is stupid" Quistis said.

"That's right it is" he replied, finally looking at her. "And on your head be the consequences".

Squall stepped into the elevator and shot upward to his destination as Quistis stared at him.

* * * *

"Sefie, do you have to do all this now" whined Irvine, leaning against a doorframe.

"The garden festival is in one week" she explained. "You know how much this means to me" she explained. "I didn't get to do it last year, so I'm gonna make this one the best ever".

"Selphie, just give the guy something to do" said Nevaeh dryly. "Please" she added.

"Okay, okay" Selphie said. "Irvine, come help me with this".

"Cool" said Irvine, like a child who had just been tricked into thinking he had been given a position of responsibility. He pushed himself away from the doorway and walked over to sit next to Selphie.

"I've got almost everything done, but there's one big problem" Selphie explained.

"What's the problem" asked Irvine.

"Music" Selphie replied bluntly.

"What's the problem with the music" questioned Irvine.

"We haven't got any" Nevaeh answered in an infinitely more dry fashion than before.

"Ah" replied Irvine in the blunt manner that seemed to be in fashion in the room at the moment.

"All we've got at the moment is pre-recorded music" Selphie explained. "So we're going to have an empty stage all night".

Irvine stood in thought. "What about these people you had your eye on for last years festival" he suggested.

"They've disbanded" replied Selphie.

"Well can't they just reform for the festival quickly" asked Irvine.

"I don't think you could persuade them to do that" Selphie answered.

"Not even for just one night?" Irvine asked. "Why not?"

"Because they all told each other that they sucked" Nevaeh answered. "Consequently, they don't get along very well anymore".

Irvine jumped up out of his seat. "Well let's go and find someone then" he stated cheerfully as he pulled Selphie out of her seat. "You too" he added, gesturing towards Nevaeh.

"Yes sir" she replied sarcastically.

As the three walked down the corridor, away from the dorms, Nevaeh looked at one of the clocks on the walls. "Hey numb-skull" she said to Irvine. "You do realise it's past curfew don't you, no ones going to be out".

"It's not past curfew for the senior SeeD's" he commented. "And if you're not gonna stop moaning then you can go back to your dorm because you're not a senior ranked SeeD yet. You're only getting away with this 'cause you're with me".

Irvine led the two out into the main hall and stopped, searching for any signs of light or movement around the entrances to the different sections of Balamb garden. He found none, but heard laughter emanating from the cafeteria. "This way" he ordered, and strode off towards the large room.

"The cafeteria" said Selphie confusedly.

"Why are we going there" asked Nevaeh.

Irvine stopped suddenly and turned around. "Do you two ever stop asking questions?" he said playfully. With this said, he turned and entered the cafeteria, observing it intently. The power had been shut off, but a glimmer of light silhouetted the door of the SeeD officer's bar. It was a converted and formally un-used storeroom at the back of the cafeteria. It wasn't big, but had enough space to accommodate all the SeeD officers, namely Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Nida, several others and any acquaintances they happened to have with them. The laughter could now be heard more loudly inside, as the group approached the door and entered.

"And so I said to her-" Zell was halfway through his joke when three figures entered the room. Zell let out a short yelp when he saw who was accompanying Irvine and Selphie. Nida barely contained his laughter, and instead managed to greet Irvine with a nod.

"We're here with a purpose" said Irvine in a jokingly bold manner, his hands on his hips in a super-hero pose.

"Well sit down and tell us about it" he continued. "Let us get you a drink".

"Thanks" Irvine, Selphie and Nevaeh all said in vague unison.

"So, what'll it be" said Nida to Irvine.

"Uh, I'll have a beer, and" Irvine paused and turned to Selphie. "What're you havin'?"

"Umm, just an orange juice" answered Selphie, which was met by a quizzical look from Nida. "I'm not a big drinker, and I've got to work on the festival tomorrow, so I'm afraid I'll have to pass on the hangover".

"Clever words" said Nida with a laugh. He turned and looked at Zell, as if expecting him to do something, but Zell just sat and stared at Nevaeh. While Nevaeh looked around nervously trying to avoid the dumb gaze of Zell, Nida quickly nudged him with his elbow.

"Uh, and for the lady?" Zell asked, regaining his composure.

"I'll have a beer as well" Nevaeh stated. Selphie glared at her, and Nevaeh just shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Hey, this is your festival" she stated. "And anyway, one drink won't hurt".

"Exactly" said Zell, motioning to the bartender to prepare the drinks.

"Anything you two want before I get these?" the bartender asked, addressing Nida and Zell.

"I'll have a vodka and get Zell one of his weird mixes" Nida answered.

The bartender turned to a small refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of beer and poured an orange juice. As Nida passed these to their respective recipients, the bartender settled Nida's vodka next to him. He then went about the task of making the one of Zell's 'weird mixes', which in Zell's traditional eccentricity, he had nicknamed a 'Brainbuster'.

Irvine and Nevaeh drank from their bottles, while Selphie sipped her orange juice and Nida knocked back his vodka like it was milk. The bartender finally finished constructing the near lethal cocktail, and put it down in front of Zell, then carefully backed away as if he expected it to spontaneously combust at any moment. Zell picked up the glass and swirled the liquid inside around for a while.

"This should be good" Nida said quietly to the other three, who watched expectantly.

Zell stared at the glass for a little longer, then suddenly tipped the whole contents into his mouth, and swallowed it in one go while slamming the glass on the table. Zell's grip remained tight on the glass, and his gaze was fixed on a shelf containing glasses behind the bartender.

"What's he doing" asked Selphie curiously.

"God knows" replied Nida. "And he won't be able to tell you either".

"Does he do this a lot" asked Irvine.

"Oh yeah" said Nida. "He's had one of those things almost every time I've seen him in here".

Zell suddenly released his grip on the glass and slumped over, smashing his head on the bar-top. This provoked a shocked reaction from Selphie, while Irvine stood in wide-eyed astonishment.

"Now that" Nida said in an eerily calm manner, due to his slight inebriation. "I've never seen him do".

"My gods" shouted Nevaeh. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"One moment" said the bartender calmly, while pouring a glass of water. He turned a poured the contents of the newly filled glass over Zell's head, who moaned quietly then quickly sat upright.

"What the hell man" Zell said, half-conscious, half-angry.

"He's done that before?" asked Selphie, sounding concerned.

"On a few occasions" the bartender replied.

"Well what kind of man are you?" asked Nevaeh, sounding slightly annoyed. "Why do you keep letting him have them?"

"What can I say" the bartender began to explain, raising his hands. "He's a very persistent guy. If he wants something, he'll have it".

The bartender turned and slipped the last of the days used glasses into a dishwasher. The group stood on the other side of the bar continued to stare at Zell, who stared back cluelessly.

"I don't think any of us know how many brain cells you just killed" Nida started, breaking the silence. "But I'm sure it was a lot".

"It's just a drink" Zell argued.

"Have you always slumped over the table like that?" Nida asked. "Because I've never seen you do it".

"Well no, but-" Zell tried to explain, struggling to find basis for his side of the argument.

"Well you're not having any more" Nida stated bluntly.

"C'mon" Zell whined.

"You probably shouldn't do that again" Nevaeh backed up Nida.

"Okay" Zell complied, with almost no hesitation. Nida turned and frowned at him, and Zell just shrugged.

"You said you where here with a purpose" said Nida, changing the subject.

"Yeah" Selphie started. "We're looking for candidates".

"Candidates for what?" Zell asked.

"The band for the festival" Irvine replied quickly, wanting to be a part of Selphie's little endeavour.

"We haven't got anyone yet, and we've only got a week left" Nevaeh added.

"I'll do it" said Zell suddenly.

"Zell, you don't have a band" said Nida.

"Shut up" Zell hissed, surprising Nida, who didn't say another word.

"Could you be ready by the end of the week?" asked Selphie excitedly.

"Uh, sure" Zell replied.

"Wow" said Selphie. "I didn't even know you had a band".

"There's lots of things people don't know about me" said Zell, grinning at Nida, who merely sneered.

"Well we better be on our way" informed Irvine.

"Thanks Zell" said Selphie cheerfully.

"Yeah" Nevaeh added. "And no more drinking. I don't want the main act to drop dead before the festival".

"Okay" Zell said, while waving.

As the three left the bar, Nida turned and glared at Zell, in what seemed to Zell like a questioning manner. Zell tried to ignore him by turning to face the small television that sat on a brace, fixed at a high angle on one of the walls of the small room. This tactic didn't achieve the desired affect, as seconds later, Zell realised that the television was not turned on, and Nida was still staring at him.

"What?" asked Zell, finding himself unable to sit with Nida constantly glaring at him.

"So who's your band mastermind?" Nida asked mockingly.

"Me and you so far" replied Zell, as if the question had been a serious one.

"What" said Nida flatly.

"Well when I was little, I used to play bass guitar a lot. As I got older my garden duties became more demanding, but since the end of that Ultimecia thing I've started playing again" Zell explained. "And if I remember correctly, you play the drums".

"Well, yeah" Nida faltered. "But that was a long time ago".

"C'mon man" Zell asked in a whiny tone. "Just help me out on this".

"Zell-" Nida began, as Zell stared at him. "Alright, alright. I'll do it".

"Great" said Zell happily. "Now all we need is a guitarist".

* * * *

Quistis walked through the main training centre gates. She looked around to see if she could find any trace of her newest troublesome student. She figured that Seifer would probably be at the place where he used to spend most of his time. There was a sudden rustling in the trees, which disturbed Quistis from her searching. She readied herself for combat. As she turned to the source of the noise, the rustling stopped and the trees where once again still. She relaxed her stance, confident that there was nothing there, or if there had been, it had already left. As she turned back around the thick foliage of one of the trees burst open and Seifer came flying out, landing behind her. He grabbed her arms and held them behind her, so that she could not move.

"Lesson one" said Seifer. "Never let your guard down" he stated. "Garden has lots of enemies".

"That applies to when you're outside Garden" Quistis replied, still a little surprised by the speed of Seifer's assault.

Seifer released his hold, and Quistis turned to face him. As she did so, her whip snaked out and wrapped around Seifer's right leg. She pulled her arm back swiftly, and Seifer was sent tumbling to the ground.

"Here's another lesson" Quistis said, a triumphant smile on her face. "Never underestimate your opponents abilities".

Seifer sneered as Quistis bent down and held her hand out in an attempt to help Seifer up. Seifer looked at the hand, then smirked as he stood up, ignoring the help offered to him. Suddenly, a loud speaker crackled into life.

"Quistis, if you and your friend have finished the lethal tango, I'd appreciate it if you would join me on the bridge" said Squall, who had been watching the two over the Garden's security camera network. "Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Nida, I want all of you up here as well".

As the loudspeaker died, Seifer looked to Quistis. "He sounded happy as usual" said Seifer.

"Oh, and Quistis" the loudspeaker crackled back to life. "Bring your dance partner too" said Squall sarcastically. "Maybe we can see if your 'instincts' are right".

The loudspeaker died again, and Seifer turned to one of the security cameras on the wall. He stared at it for a while, then made an obscene gesture towards it, well aware of the fact that Squall was still watching.

* * * *

"I really hate that man" sighed Squall, turning away from a monitor. Xu looked at him, unaware of who he was talking about. "Seifer" Squall added. "That guy's still an asshole".

Zell and Nida were the first to arrive on the bridge, both looking slightly disoriented. Squall stared at them for second, immediately realising where they had been, and decided to make no attempt to question them about it. He could have killed Rinoa for persuading Cid to have that bar installed. He did enjoy it himself, but not on the level that Nida and Zell enjoyed it. Sometimes, it just caused problems if an urgent mission came up, as was the case now. Squall leant his forehead on his hand and frowned. Seifer wasn't even here yet, and things were already going wrong. Selphie and Irvine arrived while Squall considered how difficult this briefing could be.

"What's goin' on Squall?" Selphie asked.

"I'll tell you when we're all here" he replied.

Irvine frowned as he remembered something, and looked to Squall. "What was all that about Quistis' 'dance partner' anyway?" he asked. Everyone turned as the sound of the elevator droned around the bridge. The platform had arrived before Squall could answer, and he once again leant his head on his hand. The team stared at Quistis and Seifer as they stepped off the elevator.

"Oop, he's here" said Zell calmly, being one of the few people in the room who was not standing in silent shock. Zell turned around and walked aimlessly along the side of the bridge.

Quistis walked past the group and took her usual place opposite Xu. Squall turned and looked at her quizzically, and she merely raised her eyebrows and glanced back. The rest of the group continued to stare at Seifer, who stared right back at them.

"Okay then" Squall broke the silence. "I guess that's one less bit of explaining that I'll have to do". This statement received nothing but a stare from Selphie, which seemed to convey the words 'You think so do you?' Squall decided to continue. "You're here because something has come up".

"We've got trouble in Dollet" continued Cid, stepping away from the large window at the front of the bridge and turning towards the SeeD's. "A group are holding many of the citizens hostage in the antenna building, so it looks like this will be a second visit for most of you". Cid pushed a button on one of the many control panels placed around the Garden's bridge, and a green heads-up-display was illuminated in front of the team. "They've taken out the bridge leading to the tower, so we'll need to find an alternative entry route" Cid explained.

"Intelligence shows that they're camped out in the basement of the facility. If true, this could mean more searching for us, depending on the layout of various items in the rooms on the basement" said Squall. "The basement has a much larger surface area than the antenna tower itself, meaning more room for our bad guys to hide".

"Just a question" interrupted Selphie. "Are we meant to just bust in there or try and negotiate with these guys?"

"All negotiations that the Dollet police have conducted have fallen through" Cid answered. "We are to go in and the resolve the situation with minimal casualties" he explained.

"As far as the police can tell, no one has been hurt yet, and they are going to try and keep the terrorists talking as long as possible" said Squall.

"Time is of the essence here" said Cid seriously. "Therefore, you shall be leaving in fifteen minutes. In that time, you should load whatever need onto the Ragnarok. A briefing on the entry method and plan of action will be given en-route to Dollet".

"Selphie, you're piloting" Squall added quickly.

"No problem" Selphie replied confidently. Selphie piloted the Ragnarok when Garden itself was mobile, unlike today, as it sat securely moored to the Balamb coastline. Usually when Garden was in its immobile state Nida would fly the Ragnarok, meaning Selphie's combat experience could be used on the ground. Today though, given Nida's current state, Squall thought it best that Selphie take over the controls.

"Remember, don't do anything stupid. You can't help these people if you end up dead" said Cid, unable to stop a compassionate look grace his friendly features. He had helped raise these children himself, and couldn't help but get worried each time they departed on a mission. "Dismissed" he said, regaining the authoritative tone in his voice.

* * *

Author's Note: - Wow, got this chapter out faster than I thought I would. It's a little longer than I expected to be, as I was adding things in here and there, but I think it came out okay. As always, it's up to you to decide what it's like, and I'll be interested to hear your comments.

Just a few notes on some parts of the story. Zell's line " Look at it this way, when you say he's comin' back to study under Quistis, maybe he really will be studying 'under' Quistis" I think may not be liked by some readers. Then again, maybe no one will notice. I wasn't sure whether to put this line in, but I did in the end anyway. I included as I think young adults (18/19/20 year olds. - However old they are a year after the end of the game) would talk about these things to each other quite a lot. At least, all the 18, 19 and 20 year olds that I know do. Sorry if anyone doesn't like this line, but I thought it firstly added some humour to the situation, and secondly added some realism to the story.

Anyway enough of my babbling. In the next chapter, which may well be very short or very long (I think it's gonna be one of those two. I don't think it will be anywhere in between) we should see the SeeD's set off on their mission, where they will encounter one of the biggest shocks of their lives. The ending to the next chapter should be surprising...maybe. P.S. For all you Rinoa fans - DON'T WORRY. She will be making an appearance soon. I haven't forgotten about her and she should turn up sometime between the third and fifth chapter!!!

C ya...


	3. Familiar Journey

****

Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 3 - Familiar Journey

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

****

So you've be thinkin' about it,

You think that you've got the answer now,

And you've been praying about it,

You've asked him to remove your fear right now.  
  
So you analyse it,

You think you have control,

Then you realise,

It's time that you let go.

Taken from Goldfinger - Anxiety

* * *

The Ragnarok sped across the ocean, about forty feet above the surface of the water. As it rocketed towards it's destination, it escaped time. What was once night in Balamb was slowly turning to day as the group cruised closer to Dollet. The ship was moving so fast that as Zell looked out of the window, the ripples on the surface of the water were merely frothy white blurs.

"Selphie, don't you think we're flying a little low" said Zell, surveying the scenery below.

The Ragnarok dropped ten feet every few minutes, only to rise back up to a relatively safe distance from the water.

"We can get more speed down here" replied Selphie.

"Terrorists are unpredictable creatures Zell" Nida explained. He seemed to be enjoying the flight. "They could decide the police were wasting their time at any moment".

"And then they could massacre all those poor people" Quistis chipped in, always the humanitarian.

"While we were just flying at a leisurely pace" finished Selphie.

"If time is of the essence, I believe there is one way to make this thing go faster" Nida informed the rest of the team.

"How?" asked Selphie excitedly.

"I'd rather not say, because we'd probably all die" Nida answered. The rest of the SeeD's stared at Nida, wondering why he'd brought it up in the first place.

"So what's the plan?" Seifer suddenly asked from a corner of the room.

Everyone turned around and faced Squall, except for Selphie, who had the responsibility of keeping the Ragnarok from crashing.

"Okay" Squall started. "The bridge to the antenna is out and we've also learned that they've secured all the ground floor entrances. So instead, we're gonna repel down from the cargo bay to the top of the antenna".

"Hang on a minute" Selphie interrupted, looking back to the group briefly. "You're saying I'm gonna have to keep this thing steady over that antenna while you guys hop out?"

"That's right" Squall answered.

"On top of a cliff, with wind blowing all around, keeping a bunch of repel lines over a small platform on top of the antenna?" Selphie asked. She could see that Squall was gradually getting her point, just from his facial expression. "Chances are I'll kill you all".

"It's not impossible" stated Nida. The group turned to him. He was running through some diagnostics on a control panel. "If I make a few changes to the power regulation, drop the flow a bit, I can do it" Zell looked at him quizzically. Given the fact that they had spent the time leading up to this mission in a bar, he didn't fancy Nida's chances at making the correct calculations. "I'm up to it" Nida said to Zell. He looked back to the rest of the group. "Just let me take the controls".

Nida walked over and sat in the seat next to Selphie. Selphie looked to Squall who nodded, and she pressed several buttons on the panel in front of her to move the controls over to the co-pilots position in which Nida was sitting.

Squall addressed the group once more, as Selphie got up from the pilots seat. "We repel down onto the antenna, then enter through the elevator. I'm hoping it's still operational, but if not then we'll have to split into groups of three. One group will keep lines secure at the top of the elevator shaft. The other three will use the lines to drop down to the ground floor, where they'll try and fix the elevator".

"What if it can't be fixed?" asked Irvine.

"Then they'll be a tough decision to make" answered Squall. "Either the first group carries on with the mission alone, or we abort. If we pick the first option, then it's gonna present a lot of danger. For this reason, I will be in the first group".

"Who else?" asked Selphie.

"I'll go" Seifer said quickly. "I'm not afraid of a fight". Squall frowned suspiciously, but decided not to say anything. To disagree would only cause problems that he didn't need at this point in the mission.

"Me too" Quistis volunteered.

"Very well" said Squall. "Zell, Selphie and Irvine, you're in charge of those repel lines if needed. Make sure they're still there if we need to get out in a hurry".

"Sure thing boss" Irvine answered.

"Once we get to the bottom of the tower, the plan will stay the same whether we can all get down or if only three of us can" Squall said. "We enter the basement through the staircase located at south side of the tower. Then we check each of the rooms until we find the hostages, eliminate any resistance in a non-lethal manner if possible, and get the civilians out".

"Seems easy enough" Seifer observed.

"Well don't let your guard down for one minute" warned Squall. "It may not be what it _seems_".

In front of the ship, a small dot appeared on the horizon. Inside a minute it had become a large dot, and another minute later the former dot was fully recognisable as the coast of Dollet. It looked different compared to the time Squall and fragments of the current group had been there last. Memories of the SeeD field exam came flooding back to the members of the team who had taken part on that day. That's when 'it' all began. When three of the group first fought together. It was all in sharp contrast with the coastline's appearance now though. What was once a war-zone seemed quiet and peaceful. For all the differences, their target destination remained the same. The Dollet communications tower.

* * *

Author's Note: - Well I said this chapter would either be very short or very long, and it turned out to be the first of the two. I thought this would be a good place to end the chapter, because I can use this one to show the mindset of all the team and then get straight into the action in the next chapter. You know what's coming in the next now, 'cause I just told you. It'll of course be the mission, where there **_will_** be a shocking event. At least it might shock some people!

C ya...


	4. Hook, Line and Sinker

****

Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 4 - Hook, Line and Sinker

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

****

Blissful wishes, floating in the clouds,

I see ambition killing us I've found,

Justified decisions knocking me down,

Can't stop this piston, flooded engine.

Taken from [minus] - Hesitant And Polite

* * *

Members of the Dollet Police Department watched from the blockades set up around the bridge that led to the antenna as the Ragnarok pitched upward, over the cliff side. It soared overhead and circled around the back of the antenna before slowing to a hover over the top platform of the huge radio mast. A short moment later, the cargo bay door opened and Zell appeared at the edge. Several bystanders let out shocked gasps when he dropped off the edge, only to be held in mid-air by a repel line. He quickly dropped the rest of the way down to the Antenna mast and unbuckled himself from the harness. He tracked the platform's length cautiously, looking for any dangers.

"How's it lookin' Zell" he heard Nida say through his earpiece.

"Peachy" Zell replied.

With this said the rest of the team jumped out of the cargo bay and joined Zell on the platform. Nida felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders as he got confirmation that everyone was safely off the ship.

The whole team moved over to the elevator shaft. Squall looked down the exposed shaft into the depths of the antenna. Small wavering flames could be seen at the bottom as well as the remains of what was once the service elevator. "Damn" he said in frustration. "Okay. Zell, Selphie, Irvine, get those lines ready so we can get down there".

The three SeeDs went to work preparing an entry route for the other half of the team. They quickly scouted about for something sturdy enough to secure the lines to. With all the steel framework around, it didn't take them long.

"So it's just us" said Seifer from behind Squall. "Nice… Cozy".

"You two are sure you wanna go through with this" asked Squall. "I don't wanna go down there with anyone who's gonna freak out on me".

"Are you kidding?" asked Seifer rhetorically. "Why would I let you take all the glory".

"Because I'm your commanding officer" said Squall. "You'll let me take all the glory if I tell you to" he added with a smile, reminding Seifer of the fact that he was still a cadet. Seifer smirked at Squall, and looked away over the town. Squall looked to Quistis for confirmation. She simply nodded.

"Hey" called Selphie.

"It's all ready here" Irvine finished for her.

Squall, Quistis and Seifer walked over and buckled themselves into the harnesses. Irvine, Selphie and Zell checked all the fastenings to make sure all was in order, and gave them the thumbs up. With all the checks completed, Squall and the other two SeeDs jumped into the elevator shaft and slowly began to lower themselves downward. At times it got frustrating for the three, as jagged pieces of metal protruded from various parts of the shaft. It was now obvious that the elevator had been destroyed at the top of the antenna and fallen all the way to the bottom, severely damaging the shaft as it did. Several minutes later they reached the bottom, just about finding a large enough patch of rubble to land on without being set on fire in the process. They unbuckled the repel lines stepped away from the wreckage of the elevator, taking in their surroundings. Despite the flaming wreck in the center of the room, nothing had changed since Squall and Seifer had last been here on their field exam.

"Keep those lines ready" said Squall into the small, barely noticeable mouthpiece attached to his collar.

"Even mine, Chicken-Wuss" added Seifer.

"You're treadin' a thin line pal" Seifer heard Zell reply through his earpiece. He smiled contentedly.

The group headed towards a door at the back of the room. They stood in front of it, staring at the handle. Slowly the group fanned out either side of the door, their backs flat to the wall. Seifer slowly reached for the handle, turning it gently. Eventually it gave a telltale click, and he pushed it open. Squall quickly glanced around the corner. "Let's go" he added.

They walked down the steps that led from the door to the basement. Once at the bottom, they were confronted with a long corridor. There were two doors on each side. Each SeeD checked a room each, finding nothing. All three converged upon the only unopened door.

"Quistis you open" Squall whispered. "We'll enter".

Squall counted to three with his fingers. As he rose his third finger Quistis opened the door and Seifer burst into the room, followed by Squall. Both stopped dead in their tracks soon afterwards. They looked around in wide-eyed astonishment. Quistis entered a few seconds later. "Oh my gods" was all she could manage. It was more than the other two could. This was more than even Seifer had ever seen.

The power in the room had been cut. It was dark, but there was enough light making it's way through the door from the hall to show what had happened prior to their arrival. Bodies lay around the room, piles of them trailing into the darkness. Blood flowed from bullet holes and exit wounds, and stained the concrete floor and walls. Men, women and even children lay among the dead.

"Holy shit" Seifer finally muttered.

Suddenly the room was eluminated with short, sharp bursts of light and the sound gunfire cut through the air. All three SeeDs leapt for cover, trying to avoid the bullets that were ricocheting around the room. Squall looked to the rest of the team. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE" he shouted. The whole team crawled quickly through the doorway then stood and ran for the staircase. They were forced to take cover behind a steel crate as the terrorists ran out of the room and continued firing.

"There's a lot of them" shouted Quistis over the gunfire.

"Ya think?" Seifer shouted back sarcastically. He looked to Squall, who did nothing but nod towards him. Quistis looked between the two confusedly.

In a lightning quick motion both Squall and Seifer popped out from behind the crate and returned fire, rapidly discharging slugs from their Gunblades. Several of the terrorists dropped to the ground before the two ducked back behind the crate.

"Five less" stated Seifer while loading a fresh clip into his Gunblade.

"Six" Squall said while doing the same.

"Who's counting" said Seifer, frowning.

Quistis looked at both men. While Squall seemed to be in deep thought, Seifer was smiling back at her. "You're actually enjoying this aren't you?" she asked.

"What. You're not?" Seifer returned the question, still smiling.

"Okay" interrupted Squall. "We make a break for the stairs on my mark… NOW".

All three SeeDs stood up, and while Squall and Quistis both dashed for the staircase Seifer turned and pointed his Gunblade at one of the terrorists. He fired a single shot, instantly dropping his intended target. "Six" he stated smugly, before turning and sprinting after the others. He quickly caught them up, just as a bullet tore it's way through a trailing part of his long coat and sped past him. "RUN GODDAMIT" he shouted.

The three quickly made their way up the stairs, while bullets bounced off the walls next to them. They reached the main hall only to be confronted by more terrorists armed with machine guns, lining the walls of the tower. This time the three made no attempt hide. They simply sprinted towards the elevator shaft and the repel lines.

"Start hauling those things up now" Squall shouted into his mouthpiece.

The gunfire could be heard at the opposite end of the shaft, where Zell, Irvine and Selphie had just started the winch system that would pull the repel lines back up through the shaft.

Back down at the bottom the other half of the team had somehow made it to the lines without one injury. They all jumped in unison for the lines, grabbing on as they retreated upwards. The three disappeared out of the terrorist's sights as they were hauled up the shaft. The terrorists soon came into view beneath Squall and the others, and once again began to fire. Quistis tried to shield her head as best she could from the bullets flying around the shaft.

On the platform on top of the antenna, Irvine was reaching into his coat. He pulled out three small grenades, and held them all between his left arm and his stomach. He hooked one finger from his right hand through each of the grenade's pins. He looked up to see Zell and Selphie staring at him in astonishment. "You'd be amazed what you can pick up from seedy stores in Galbadia" he said, smiling. He cautiously leaned his head over to look down into the shaft. "HEADS UP" he shouted, before pulling all three pins simultaneously and letting the grenades fall from his grip and down into the shaft.

Squall, Seifer and Quistis all looked up, then swung themselves towards the walls of the shaft as the grenades fell past them. The soldiers at the bottom scattered as they landed, and exploded a second later. The three SeeDs attached to the lines shielded themselves from the blast as well as they could, and by the time they looked back down towards the bottom of the shaft the firing had stopped. Each breathed a sigh of relief. They looked up towards the top of the shaft and saw three heads peeking over the edge, silhouetted against the sky.

"Smooth" Seifer called up to them. Irvine tipped has hat.

An animalistic shriek suddenly emanated from the bottom of the shaft. A sole surviving terrorist stood at the bottom, pointing his weapon upwards.

"Shit" shouted Seifer as he tried to unhook his Gunblade from his belt.

The terrorist began firing wildly, bouncing bullets off the walls of the shaft. As Squall watched the gunman Quistis suddenly released scream. Squall looked up to see her release her grip on the line and begin to fall. He swung into her path and caught her by the hand before she dropped past.

Seifer finally managed to release the clip on his belt and aimed the weapon at the terrorist. He repeatedly pulled the trigger, riddling the attackers body with rounds. He continued to fire until the clip was empty. The terrorist was dead before his body even hit the ground. He looked to Squall and saw him hanging onto an unconscious Quistis. A red stain and a hole in her dress marked the gunshot wound on her back.

* * *

Author's Note: - There, shocking huh? Maybe for some and maybe not, but either way it's something that seldom happens to any of the six main characters from FF8 (Even if it does, it normally happens to Selphie). Is Quistis dead? Is Squall gonna be able to hang onto her instead of dropping her back to the bottom? Is this fic gonna have some kind of point to it? Some of these questions might be answered very soon. Oh, and whether you like her or not, Rinoa will be in the next chapter.

C ya…


	5. Questioned Actions

****

Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 5 - Questioned Actions

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

****

It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.

Everything will be just fine, everything will be all right.

It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride.

Everything will be just fine, everything will be all right.

Taken form Jimmy Eat World - The Middle

* * *

The Ragnorok circled around the antenna and dropped down the side of the hill. Nida lowered the ship down onto the slope as he saw Seifer carrying Quistis towards the ship. The Ragnarok touched down and sat at an angle on the hill. As Nida opened the cargo bay door, the Ragnarok began to slide down the hill and Nida had to take off to avoid disaster. He looked down at Seifer, who frowned back impatiently. Out of desperation Nida sent the ship sideways and smashed it into the hill, accidentally but conveniently lodging it between the hill and a boulder. Seifer jumped onto the ship, quickly followed by the rest of the SeeDs.

"Nida GO" shouted Zell into his mouthpiece. "MOVE IT NOW".

"Seifer, take her to the briefing room on the second floor" said Squall, something not quite detectable in his tone.

Seifer moved quickly up the steps. It was one of those rare moments when he didn't question Squall's words. He ran into the briefing room and set Quistis down on the floor.

"How is she?" came Nida's anxious voice across the Ragnarok's intercom. Selphie was checking her over as Nida asked.

"Not good" she replied. "There's nothing we can do here. You gotta get back to Garden quick".

"Okay" Nida replied. "Listen, hang on to something. Tight".

The group braced themselves against the chairs on the briefing room, making sure to keep hold of Quistis at the same time. An electronic hum became barely audible, and the SeeDs looked around in confusion. As the noise got louder, Selphie's grip on one of the chairs got tighter. The volume of the hum rose so that it was the only thing that could be heard, then the group felt what they thought was an explosion. Suddenly the Ragnorok accelerated rapidly, Zell almost losing his grip.

* * * *

Two cadets were sat in the hanger/garage of Balamb Garden cleaning the vehicles. They were at this moment recollecting the events of earlier, and eventually came to the conclusion that aiming solely for their instructor in the cafeteria food fight was a bad idea. Getting caught was an even worse move, seeing as it wasn't even themselves that started the whole commotion. In fact, they didn't know who had started it.

Outside the large rolling door of the room a distant roar could be heard, gradually getting louder. The two young cadets looked at each other confusedly, then looked at the door. Eventually the roar became louder than they could bare, and both covered their ears. They now looked at each other in a somewhat panicked fashion.

Suddenly the large door of the hanger burst open, the Ragnorok crashing through. The two cadets stood up and leaped towards the side of the room, crawling to one of the walls and pressing their backs up against it. The Ragnorok piled through the row of cars, all just recently cleaned by the cadets. Sparks flew in every direction as the ship touched down and slid, coming to a sudden stop as it hit the back wall of the hanger. The cargo door creaked and jolted, only managing to get itself half-open before the hydraulics gave up and expired with a pressurised hiss.

Squall jumped out from the cargo bay, looking back up to the door above. Seifer stood up in his field of view, holding Quistis. He passed her down to Squall, who immediately took off out of the hanger and toward the infirmary. The rest of the team quickly followed.

The two cadets looked on in wide-eyed astonishment, their backs still pressed tightly against the wall. They breathed heavily, as one of them struggled to swallow. The day was proving too much for them take.

* * * *

Selphie lay sleeping across three of the seats outside Quistis' room. It was closed off from everyone except Squall, Doctor Kadowaki and Headmaster Cid. While Zell paced up and down between the rows of seats, Irvine sat next to Selphie's sleeping form and Rinoa sat opposite him. Seifer leaned against wall, looking at the ground just in front of his feet. Despite the fact that nothing was there the spot seemed to have his undivided attention. The one member of the original orphanage group that believed in him was on the other side of that door fighting for her life and there was nothing he could do about it. The types of feelings Seifer was experiencing were foreign to him, but was dealing with them as best he could in his own way. He just felt so helpless.

The door to Quistis' room suddenly opened and everyone looked towards it, except for Selphie who remained asleep. Squall, Headmaster Cid and Doctor Kadowaki all stepped out, and receiving nothing but questioning but hesitant glares from Quistis' friends.

Doctor Kadowaki stepped forward and cleared her throat. "She's stable for now" she began. "But it's still very uncertain. She's in a coma and I can't tell you when she'll come out of it. It may be today, it may be tomorrow". Doctor Kadowaki paused for a moment. The team looked confusedly at each other. "It may be… never. It's really up to her now" Doctor Kadowaki continued. "I've done all I can, but she may or may not have the strength to get better". The Doctor gave the young SeeDs one last look and left. It wasn't fair to put them through all this at such a young age… But then they've been through the end of the world and come back fine before, why not now? Kadowaki worried about the aftermath of these events, whatever the outcome.

The group now looked to Squall, who quickly glanced at each of them before going and sitting down next to Rinoa. She placed her hand on his reassuringly, but knew he was lost inside himself right now. The rest of the group looked around in confusion. This was the toughest point in their lives so far and their leader had chosen this particular time to return to his old reclusive ways. Still, he had as much to deal with as the rest of them right now.

Cid finally spoke up. "I think the best thing that all of you can do right now is rest. She can handle a few hours without you, and I'll stay while you're gone".

Seifer looked up as if to argue, but thought better of it. Even he knew that fighting amongst themselves was the most unproductive thing they could do right now.

"But we can't just leave her" Zell said suddenly, still pacing up and down.

"There's nothing you can do here" Cid told him.

"But she needs us" Zell argued, walking up to Cid. "For once she's depending on _us_".

"She will be when she wakes up, but for now you should rest" argued Cid.

Zell finally gave in, although grudgingly. He turned and left the infirmary. The rest of the SeeDs followed a moment later and although they could see Zell in the distance, he was walking far faster than they were. He quickly disappeared out of view.

* * * *

Zell walked into his dorm, slamming the door shut and knocking a picture of his foster parents off of a table in the process. The day couldn't get any worse if he tried to make it so himself, and tomorrow wasn't set to be any better. He lay down on his bed and rested his right arm over his eyes. He knew he should get some sleep, but how could he be expected to do that at a time like this. He wondered if the others were doing any better than him.

* * * *

Irvine pushed Selphie's dorm door open with his foot, closing it behind him with the same boot. In his arms was the still sleeping Selphie. He envied her in a way. To be able to do what she was doing right now would be a blessing, but he knew he wouldn't be able to achieve that state of tranquillity tonight. He certainly wouldn't be able to even attempt such things before he put Selphie down. He gently laid her on her bed and pulled the covers over her, up to her shoulders. He was worried she would be confused if she woke up any time soon and found herself in her dorm, but he couldn't help that. He stood up turned towards the door, opening it and walking outside. He quickly looked back through at Selphie's peaceful form before closing the door as quietly as he could and heading towards his quarters.

* * * *

Seifer wondered aimlessly around the Garden, walking from place to place. He got some odd glares from some of the students, who had only found out about his return from seeing him that very moment. He didn't care though. Quite frankly he wouldn't have cared even if everything was normal, but the recent events made their opinions seem even more inconsequential. He should have been watching the bottom of the shaft. He shouldn't have been so confident that the cowboy had got them all. If he had been a bit more vigilant, maybe he could have prevented all this. Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a SeeD after all.

* * * *

Squall sat on a sofa in his dorm. It was the same room he had been given when he became a SeeD. He had been offered larger 'Commander's Quarters' after defeating Ultimecia, but didn't want to do anything to distance himself from his friends. Or any of the SeeDs for that matter. Rinoa sat next to him, not quite knowing what to do. He had been silent since he had left Quistis' room. She wondered if he knew something that the rest of them didn't.

* * * *

Nevaeh walked briskly down the hallway. The doors to various people's dorms lined the corridor, but she was on her way to one in particular. She stopped at her destination, and gently knocked on the door. She waited a moment without an answer, and knocked again. She frowned as she once again went without a response. She lightly opened the door, poking her head through. "Selphie?" she said. She looked to her left and saw Selphie sleeping on her bed. Nevaeh raised her eyebrows and closed the door again. Maybe she was tired from her mission. Oddly, no one had mentioned how it went. In fact no one seemed to know. "Oh well, I'll do it on my own" she said to herself.

She walked further up the corridor, until she had almost reached the end of the long hallway. She once again stopped at one of the doors, and knocked on it. No one answered. She was beginning to think that there wasn't a person in the Garden who wanted to speak to her. She knocked again, this time a little harder. Shortly afterwards she heard the sound of someone walking towards the door. The handle twisted violently, and the door flew open.

"WHAT?" questioned Zell viscously, not bothering to even find out who it was before he spoke.

"Erm… uh" Nevaeh faltered. "I just wanted to ask you something".

"Yeah? Well out with it" Zell said, still sounding unusually angry.

"I just wanted to ask how the band is going" Nevaeh quickly replied. "I wanted to know if you guys were still on for the festival".

Zell brought his hand up to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm not so sure about that. Not at the moment" he answered.

"What?" Nevaeh said loudly, annoyance creeping into her tone. "But you said you would do it. You're all we've got".

"Well now I'm not so sure" said Zell flatly.

"But-" Nevaeh said before she was interrupted by Zell.

"Listen. I really can't be bothered to argue this with you right now" Zell said. "So if you'll get your foot out of my doorway, I can close the door and you can leave me alone".

"Wow" said Nevaeh mockingly. She'd suddenly adopted a tone similar to Zell's. "Selphie forgot to mention that you were a complete asshole".

Zell reeled back at the words, literally. He suddenly wore a frown, his eyes darting about as if he were looking for something. He looked up to Nevaeh. "I'm sorry" he said. It seemed sincere enough to Nevaeh. "I've just had the worst day of my life, and I'm not coping with it too well".

"Oh" Nevaeh said, suddenly feeling bad about her earlier words. "Did the mission not go well?"

"That's probably the biggest understatement ever made" said Zell.

"That bad?" Nevaeh asked.

"And worse" Zell replied. "You may have noticed that Squall, Irvine, Selphie and Seifer have all been missing from their normal hangouts". Zell paused and looked down at the floor. "And Quistis".

"Selphie's in her dorm, sleeping. I think she's tired from the mission" Nevaeh told Zell. "You don't seem yourself. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Uh" Zell faltered, his eyes darting about once again. "Yeah. Yeah I think I do".

Zell stepped out of the doorway and Nevaeh walked into his dorm, closing the door behind herself.

Nevaeh walked through the centre of his room, looking around. It was neat, something she didn't expect. Three T-Boards of various designs stood against a wall at the side of the room on a specifically designed rack. There was a small television mounted on the wall across from his bed. Ever since the Galbadian's had got antenna transmissions working again television networks had begun to transmit all over the world. Consequently many SeeDs found a way to pass their unoccupied hours. Headmaster Cid hadn't decided whether it was a good thing or not, but hadn't banned TV's nonetheless.

"This is nice" said Nevaeh.

"Suits me to the ground" said Zell. He was making some drinks at a small kitchen/bar area at the side of the room.

"Do all senior SeeDs get those?" Nevaeh asked pointing to the bar.

"No" said Zell. "This is my own personal touch" he added, cracking a smile for the first time since he had opened the door to Nevaeh. He almost felt bad for doing it, considering Quistis current condition. He reasoned with himself, coming to the conclusion that Quistis wouldn't want him to sit around being miserable anyway.

"This is all a bit strange" said Nevaeh.

"Why?" asked Zell.

"Well from what I've heard about you" Nevaeh trailed off while she inspected the room some more. "I would've expected something more outlandish for you to live in".

"Disappointed?" Zell asked, again smiling but keeping it hidden from Nevaeh.

"No" she answered quickly. "It's just not what I expected".

"Well" Zell said turning around. "I'm glad in that case". He handed a drink to Nevaeh.

"This isn't one of those 'Facebuster' things is it?" Nevaeh asked, giving the glass a suspicious look.

"A Brainbuster?" Zell said. "No, not alcoholic in the least. I'm not drinking anymore after today".

Nevaeh walked over and sat on his bed. She sipped her drink then looked around herself, surveying where she had chosen to sit. Two other chairs sat in the room, and she had to choose the bed. Her eyes widened slightly in embarrassment, and she started to stand up.

"It's okay. Honestly" Zell assured her.

Nevaeh sat back down as Zell walked over and sat next to her. He sipped from his drink and looked in every possible direction around the room except Nevaeh's. Now that she was actually here, he couldn't work out whether he wanted to talk to her about the mission or not. Eventually he did look in Nevaeh's direction and caught her gaze.

"You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to" she said. She had read his mind. Zell often wondered how women did that.

"No, it's just that" Zell paused. "I don't often do this. I don't need to, I've always been able to cope by myself".

"Well maybe this time you need a _little_ help" Nevaeh said smiling. Zell felt the need to smile back at her. She hardly knew him yet she was completely willing to sit and listen. "So" she continued. "What happened?"

"The mission. It didn't go so well" Zell explained. "It wasn't on the scale of the whole Ultimecia thing but it's proving to be so much tougher".

"Something really bad happened out there today, didn't it?" asked Nevaeh.

"Yeah" Zell replied simply. "We had to split into two teams 'cause the elevator in the shaft of this antenna we were storming was busted. Three at the top kept lines secure while the other three used the lines to get to the bottom". Zell looked around, again thinking about something. "Squall, Seifer and Quistis were the three that went down into the shaft, and I was with Irvine and Selphie working the repel lines".

"Go on" Nevaeh said.

"There were a whole load of terrorist in the basement where all the hostages were supposed to be. Much more than we expected" Zell continued. "The three who went down in the shaft found the hostages they were meant to be rescuing but they were all dead. It had all been set up as an ambush".

"Were they were going after you six individuals or just any SeeDs that were sent?" asked Nevaeh.

"I don't know" replied Zell. "But the group down at the bottom managed to get all the way back to the shaft and even onto the lines. Irvine finished off the terrorists at the bottom with some grenades" Zell paused again. "But there was one we missed. He turned up at the bottom out of the smoke and started firing".

"Oh gods" Nevaeh blurted accidentally, already working out the general idea of what happened.

"Quistis was hit before we could do anything" Zell carried on. "None of us was quick enough. I mean, Seifer got him eventually, but by then Quistis was hanging unconscious from Squall's hand".

"What's happened to her?" asked Nevaeh.

"She's in the infirmary now" answered Zell. "'_Stable but in a coma_' apparently. The Doc doesn't know if she'll make it".

"I'm sorry Zell" said Nevaeh.

"If I had volunteered before her I could have gone with Squall and Seifer" said Zell. "Then it would have been me and it wouldn't have mattered".

"Yes it would" said Nevaeh, sounding suddenly annoyed. "Don't ever say that. Squall and the others would have been just as worried as they are now, only Quistis would also be worried and not you". Nevaeh paused and looked at Zell. He didn't look convinced. "And" she faltered. "And I would have been worried too".

Zell looked at her, his expression changing suddenly to something between shock and appreciation. He was becoming more thankful for Nevaeh's company by the moment. He found it so easy to talk to her, and she was able to make everything seem better with only a few words it seemed.

* * *

Author's Note: - Well there you have it. The 'character development page'. Or the 'A chance to let me try some things out page' J . I'm not so sure how this chapter will be received. More to the point is the fact that I don't care, because I think it is vital to whole story. Anyway, as always you can add your thoughts on this chapter if you wish. Any _constructive_ criticisms are welcome, and so general compliments.

C ya next chapter…


	6. A Communal Weight Lifted

****

Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 6 - A Communal Weight Lifted

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

****

Why is it that you never said,

I love you more than just a friend,

I pray this gridlock never ends,

And when we get there just depends.

Taken from Alkaline Trio - Mr. Chainsaw

* * *

It was the morning of two days after the SeeDs most recent mission. The whole of Garden was going about their business as usual, blissfully unaware of the situation at the Infirmary. No one had been told of Quistis condition, that she still lay motionless and without response in a closed off room in Dr. Kadowaki's care. Xu had taken any classes that she was meant to give. The students had simply been told that she had taken a short vacation to visit some friends. Despite the fact that all of her friends lived at the Garden with her, no one questioned the word of Headmaster Cid.

The only person outside of those who took part in the mission and its repercussions was Nevaeh. She was currently running along the pathway in the main lobby of Garden. Zell dragged her by the hand, almost accidentally pulling her off of her feet. She silently wished he wasn't so athletic. A sharp turn around the corner and they were now headed toward the Infirmary.

Inside, the team that took part in the Dollet mission sat listening to the conversation between Squall and Dr. Kadowaki. "When did it happen?" asked Squall.

"Five minutes before you got here" Kadowaki answered.

Suddenly Zell and Nevaeh crashed in into the room, Zell almost fighting to make the mechanical doors part faster. They stopped and stood, looking straight back at the group who was currently staring at them. Zell noticed that they didn't seem to be looking him in the eyes. He traced their gaze to his hand, still tightly clutched around that of Nevaeh. He quickly snatched his it away, worrying that they would be hasty in their interpretation of the image.

Nida merely smirked. He knew what was going on. He would have ridiculed Zell for his blatantly obvious behaviour if he hadn't have been sworn to secrecy. He wasn't sure how much had just been given away, but he had a feeling that at least one member of the group would question him on it later. Most probably Irvine.

"I think you should go in there" Squall said, nodding towards Quistis' room.

Zell ran into the room in which Quistis had been laying the day before. Nevaeh followed him in, hazarding a quick, nervous glance towards Irvine. He deliberately shot a smug grin back towards her. He could probably infuriate even the most docile person she thought, which she wasn't. She walked into the small room to see Zell's face lit up. She could help but stifle a laugh at his dumb expression. "Quistis" he suddenly blurted out.

His former Instructor sat up on the bed, looking somewhat tired but conscious. "Hello Zell" she said wearily.

"It's so good to see you awake" he said, a beaming smile spanning from ear-to-ear.

"It's good to be awake" Quistis simply replied. She bent her head round to look past Zell's shoulder, with some difficulty.

Zell looked behind him, Nevaeh standing and smiling happily at him. "Oh" he said, ushering Nevaeh in front of him and into Quistis full view. "This is Nevaeh" he announced.

"Nevaeh Tarik" added Nevaeh.

"Nevaeh Tarik from the Trabian academy?" asked Quistis.

"Umm, yes" answered Nevaeh, frowning. She didn't recall meeting Quistis before.

"You're a member of Balamb Garden now?" asked Quistis, her tone perking up somewhat.

"Uh, yes" answered Nevaeh, still confused. "I was moved here three weeks ago".

"I wish I had been notified of your posting when you first arrived" said Quistis, smiling a little.

"I… I'm sorry, I don't think I understand" Nevaeh stuttered.

"Here at Balamb we get just one graduate from the academy each year" Quistis explained. "The rest of the graduates get sent to Galbadia Garden because it no longer trains SeeD's itself now. Somewhere between a quarter and a half of the SeeDs there are Trabian Academy graduates".

"And I'm that one" asked Nevaeh rhetorically.

"Yes" answered Quistis. Zell all of a sudden felt particularly lucky.

"But, why do you know my name?" asked Nevaeh.

"You were the best out of your whole graduating class" Quistis explained. "You showed more ability and potential than any other student ever to study at the academy". Quistis paused. "I don't suppose they ever told you this, did they?"

"No" answered Nevaeh, her tone suddenly different.

"Hey" Zell suddenly entered the conversation, bending down to look at Nevaeh. "You okay?"

"Yeah, its just that" Nevaeh paused. "My instructor was always so hard on me. He always told me how I 'needed to knuckle down if I wanted to keep up' and that 'I should look to my fellow students and follow their example'. None of this really makes any sense to me" she paused once more. "I always thought I just scraped through the exams. The _average_ one".

"Was your instructors name Larson Finn by any chance?" asked Quistis, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes" a surprised Nevaeh confirmed.

"That man is complete bully" Quistis said. Zell noticed a slight annoyance in her tone. "It makes me wonder how he became an instructor. I'd forget about any comments he made, he doesn't like people who are better than him".

"I see" said Nevaeh, a slight grin crossing her face.

"Oh gods" said Quistis, a smile gracing her face. "It's all going to go to your head isn't it?"

"No, no" Nevaeh quickly answered. She had picked up on the humour in Quistis' tone, but wanted to stamp out any possible doubts nonetheless. "Besides, regardless of whether I did well at the academy or not I feel decidedly average around here. I mean, I've spent the morning with a bunch of people who saved the world".

"And one who tried to end it" came a voice from behind Zell and Nevaeh. They turned to see Seifer. Ironic humour seemed to be his forte. He was leaning against the doorframe, in an eerily similar posture to when Quistis had first seen him on the day he returned to Garden, she noted.

"You took your time getting here" Quistis said, smiling. Counter sarcasm with sarcasm, she thought.

"You know me and my extravagant entrances" countered Seifer. As infuriating as it sometimes was, no one could ever outwit him in a match of quick-tongues. He smiled and walked over to her. He bent down and rapped his arms around her, embracing her for a short time. Quistis looked over his shoulder towards Zell, who shrugged confusedly. Seifer let go then sat on the edge of her bed.

"What was that for?" Quistis asked.

"I'm just glad you're okay" he answered. "It's all down to you that I'm here. You've given me a chance to start out all over again".

"So I suppose you're a SeeD now" Quistis said smiling.

"I don't know about that" said Seifer, suddenly seeming a little down. "If I was really good enough then I would have had that guy covered".

"Look" said Quistis, snapping his gaze towards her. "You did as much as you could. I was just like you 'cause I also thought we were safe. It was my own fault".

"You did as much as the rest of us Seifer" Zell suddenly added.

Seifer laughed inwardly to himself. It almost seemed out of place for Zell to be saying things of this nature to Seifer. He may have ridiculed Zell in the past but he'd actually turned out to be a reasonable and friendly person, providing Seifer maintained his new-found patience with him. After all, the guy was pretty clumsy at times. All except in his martial arts. Seifer had never been able to fault Zell's fighting ability. _Almost _as gracious as his own fighting craft, he thought. "Thanks Spike" Seifer finally said, quickly glancing at Zell's hair. Zell was about to say something, but figured it was better than 'Chicken-Wuss'. For once he honestly believed that it wasn't meant to be condescending. Seifer just couldn't help but be sarcastic.

Irvine poked his head in through the door, making a strange clicking sound with his mouth to gain the attention of everyone in the room. "Doc says we all gotta go now. Let Quisty get her rest" he said.

Zell, Nevaeh and Seifer all looked to Quistis. "I suppose she is the Doctor" Quistis said to them all.

"Okay. I'll come and visit later" said Zell, walking backwards towards the door. Irvine patted him on the shoulder and gave him a suggestive grin as he moved through the door.

"It was nice meeting you Instructor Trepe" said Nevaeh.

"Its Quistis, please" corrected Quistis. "And I'm glad that I've finally been able to meet you too".

Seifer got up off the bed and walked towards the doorway. He turned just before he left the room. "I'll come back later, okay" he said.

"Uh, yeah" Quistis bumbled, still a little dumbfounded by his behaviour.

The whole group had now gone, as per Dr. Kadowaki's orders. Quistis couldn't help but feel a little bored already. She may have been tired, but having her friends around her seemed to awaken some kind of reserve energy locked within. To see them all again made her feel instantly better, though the evidence of the mission still arose whenever she moved, a slight and awkward pain in her lower back. Kadowaki had removed the bullet, but the wound had by no means healed yet. Quistis figured she would be here longer than she wanted to be waiting for her body to heal itself. She sat with her head tilted, looking out the window. The view was of the ocean now, rolling past calmly as the Garden sat moored just off the Balamb coast. Different when compared to the time she had come here to pick up her most reclusive student after a particularly competitive sparring session with what was his arch-rival. Before everything that had forced the team to grow up, quickly. It may have sounded bad when put like that, but it was also the start of a chain of events that forced them to remember who themselves and each other really were. As far as Quistis was concerned, it may have been tough but the benefits outweighed any sacrifices that had had to be made by far.

Dr. Kadowaki walked into the room, jarring Quistis out of daydream. She looked towards the Doctor, knowing she had to ask the question but fearing she wouldn't like the answer. "So, how's it looking?" Quistis asked, cringing slightly in anticipation of bad news.

"By all accounts you seem to be doing pretty well" Kadowaki answered. "Of course it's early days yet, but provided you rest and do _everything_ I say, you should be back the way you always were. Plus a tiny scar of course".

"How long do you think I'll have to stay here" Quistis asked. She had a feeling it would be quite a long time, and she didn't really like the feeling at all.

"I suppose you could be moving and out of the infirmary in…" Kadowaki trailed off, screwing her face up slightly. Eventually it found its way back to its normal dimensions, and the Doctor concluded. "Two weeks. But you won't be able to take part in any missions or physically strenuous activities for a while after that".

Two weeks was longer than Quistis wanted to be told, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been either. In fact Quistis felt rather proud of herself for getting this far so quickly.

The room sat in silence after the rather straightforward conversation between Kadowaki and Quistis. While the young instructors gaze returned to the window, Kadowaki skimmed through the notes she had made about Quistis, from the time she had been brought to the Infirmary to this very day. "You know" the Doctor suddenly started. "I never thought I'd see that boy again. Not back in Garden at least".

"Who?" asked Quistis, turning to face Kadowaki.

The Doctor looked up from her notes and peered over her glasses to Quistis. "Seifer Almasy" she answered. "I never thought he'd get the chance".

"Well he wouldn't have if it wasn't for me" Quistis explained. "I got him brought back. Thought he might be a good addition to the small amount of graduates we get".

"Really?" said Kadowaki. Quistis noticed a change in her tone, but couldn't quite detect the reasoning behind it. "He seems to have been more than happy to take up the challenge".

"Yes, I know" said Quistis. "He seems to be so much more focused now. I think he's had to make some tough decisions over the last few months".

"It would appear that way, yes" Dr. Kadowaki agreed. "Now, I'll leave you to get some rest. The more you rest the faster you'll be up and moving".

* * * *

The cafeteria was only sparsely populated. Only five minutes ago, droves young cadets had pushed their way out of the doorway of the cafeteria on their way to classes, right into Zell and Nevaeh. Despite some trouble, they both eventually made it inside, and sat down at one of the many empty tables. The only people in the cafeteria now were SeeD's who had nothing better to do. Nevaeh sat looking past Zell, into the distance. Zell looked where she was looking, but nothing appeared to be there. Nothing interesting anyway. A grey wall, in-fact. "Hey" he said, just about gaining Nevaeh's attention. "Am I that bad company?"

"Oh" Nevaeh snapped back to the real world. "No, it's just I'm still a bit confused. Finding out I'm some kind of 'super-cadet' kinda freaked me out".

"Oh god" said Zell while grinning. "It has all gone to your head hasn't it?" Nevaeh smiled back, somewhat distantly Zell noticed. "You must have noticed a difference" he said to her.

"Not really" Nevaeh answered. "I was never really looking".

"But, I mean" Zell stuttered. "If you're as good as Quistis says you are, it must have been pretty obvious".

"Well not to me" Nevaeh replied.

Zell frowned. "Shouldn't you be happy about it though. I mean, you're obviously something special". The statement may have held more meaning, but Nevaeh didn't notice.

"I am, I am" Nevaeh said quickly. "I just gotta get used to it I think".

"It happens with time" said Zell reassuringly. "Imagine what saving the world does to a person". Nevaeh smiled, or was it a giggle? Zell wasn't sure, but he was glad he was able to cheer her up a bit anyway.

"But, uh, you must be pretty happy that your friend's woken up" said Nevaeh, suddenly changing the subject.

"Yeah, it's just great" said Zell. "I was worried she wasn't gonna get better".

"I know" said Nevaeh, smiling at Zell. "I could tell".

"Listen, in all the excitement of this morning, I never got round to thanking you for helping me over the last few days" said Zell. He seemed awkward.

"That's okay. I'm glad I could help" said Nevaeh. "I'm glad you're back to your old self again though. In certainly was a contrast, you being all reclusive and moody".

"Yeah I know" Zell agreed. "Can't say I enjoyed it".

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Nida appeared at the side of the table. He seemed to do this a lot, but no one ever knew how. He was just the most inconspicuous guy ever. He shot both Nevaeh and Zell a grin, then began to talk. "Umm, Squall wanted me to tell you guys that we shouldn't all go and see Quistis again today. He doesn't want us to crowd her. Could inadvertently cause her recovery to take longer and all that" he said.

"Umm, okay" said a frowning Zell, still concerned as to how Nida had appeared so suddenly. Before he could ask, Nida turned and left without saying goodbye. This was often the way with him. It wasn't being rude, he just tended do drift in and out of places with as little commotion as possible. It added some sense of mysteriousness to him, Zell thought. "Did you notice him before he was right next to us?" Zell asked, turning to Nevaeh.

"Uh, no" said Nevaeh, sounding equally confused.

"I mean, I've got used to him doing that but I still wonder how" said Zell.

* * * *

"You seem happier" said Rinoa, walking across Squall's dorm and sitting on a sofa next to him. "Are you?"

"Yeah, definitely" answered Squall. "It looks like Quistis is gonna get better. Of course I'm happy".

"Good" said Rinoa. A few moments of silence past before she spoke again. "I know you don't really like all this kind of stuff" Rinoa started cautiously. "But I thought that once Quistis was back on her feet and moving around, we could go out for a night or something". Rinoa looked at Squall, searching for approval. He didn't react, just looked back at her. She was sure he did this just to test her patience, but was never quite sure. "You know. To celebrate Quistis being okay. I mean, it was pretty close there for a while".

Squall moved and sat up more in his chair. He looked at Rinoa and smirked. "Yeah, okay" he said casually.

"Ooh you" Rinoa said, annoyance in her tone. She hit Squall on the arm.

"What?" Squall said while laughing.

"You do that on purpose" said Rinoa, trying her best to put on an angry frown. She wasn't very successful.

"Okay, okay" Squall gave in. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how far you would go".

"That's not fair" said Rinoa, her face returning to it's normal, friendly dimensions. "Anyway, what happens now?"

"What happens now with what?" asked a frowning Squall, sitting forward and turning to Rinoa.

"With everyone" said Rinoa. "This could effect some of the others confidence".

"I don't think so. We'll all get through it" said Squall, sounding rather sure of himself.

"But, this could have got them scared" Rinoa argued.

"Okay" Squall once again caved in. "I'll talk to them all. I'll make sure they're okay".

"You're probably right" said Rinoa. "I just wanna be sure".

"You make a better leader than me" said Squall, smiling. "Lucky I've got you with me".

"Huh? I basically run this place anyway" said Rinoa giggling to herself. Squall frowned and leaned over to her, quickly grabbing her and tickling her down her sides.

As Rinoa wriggled around on the sofa in hysterics, Seifer quietly stepped into the room. He'd already knocked, but the pair hadn't heard him. He loudly cleared his throat, attempting to gain their attention. They both looked up, Squall suddenly leaning back in his seat. He looked slightly annoyed at first, but it quickly passed.

"Uh, sorry if I'm interrupting anything" said Seifer. Squall could have sworn he saw a satisfied grin quickly cross his face as he said the words. "But I'd just like to ask some questions quickly".

"Yeah, whatever" said Squall. He figured he should counter Seifer the way he always had. Not react at all.

"Uh, do you think it would be okay if I went and saw Quistis tonight" Seifer asked. Squall was half-surprised and half-amused at the fact he was even asking. "It's just that I told her I would".

Seifer looked nervous, Squall thought. Almost as if he was under interrogation. "I suppose so" said Squall. He didn't think he should drag things out any longer. "Just don't stay too long".

Seifer nodded, a slight smile forming on his face. It was quickly masked as he left the room without a word. There was still some animosity between Squall and Seifer, but Squall had noticed that their mutual respect for each others abilities had come to the forefront of any type of relationship they had right now.

"I wonder if he knows what he's getting himself into" said Rinoa, drawing Squall's attention.

"Huh?" Squall blurted cluelessly.

"Seifer. He's" Rinoa stopped. She examined the infinitely confused look on Squall's face. "Forget it".

"Whatever" said Squall. "Look, I gotta go and see Cid. Garden stuff, y'know".

"Yeah, I know" said Rinoa.

"I shouldn't be too long" said Squall.

"Well what makes you think I'll be here when you get back" Rinoa asked playfully. "I do have a life outside of you Mr. Leonheart".

Squall smiled and stood up. He walked across the room to the door, and opened it. Quickly raising his hand in a sort of wave, he smiled at Rinoa and left. He didn't particularly want to carry on with his Garden duties at the moment, but knew it was down to him to set an example. Besides, outside of the group no one else knew what was going on, and acting different would only raise suspicion. 

* * *

Author's Note: - There. Finally got round to writing one of the longer chapters again. Kinda felt I had done to many short ones recently, especially as I was releasing one at a time. Anyway, I don't know how long it'll be before the next chapter comes out, because I'm not so sure what direction I want to take the fic in. I'm also working on some other stuff that should be up at some point, though I don't know when. As always, it would be cool to hear your comments on the story so far. What you say really does count, 'cos I'll keep writing this as long as people are reading it. It's become more for the people who enjoy reading it than it is for myself. But I don't mind that. It's cool to have people who enjoy reading my writing.

Anyways, I can't tell you what to expect in the next chapter or to yet, as even I'm not completely sure. They may not be too action-packed, but will be important. Character and plot development and all that.

C ya…


	7. He Who Dares

**Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds**

**Chapter 7 - He Who Dares**

By: Fat Zombie 

* * *

**And you've still got starry eyes my friend,**

**How many times until you learn.**

**Chase the part so you can fit,**

**Get too close and then you burn.**

* * *

Life was returning to some sort of normality in Balamb Garden. The students once again saw the happy and vibrant team that saved the world going about their normal business, and even Quistis had returned from her 'trip'. The only difference they noticed was that Seifer was with her for most of the time. It was confusing for the students. The two seemed to be friends of some sorts, but seemed awkward around each other. Quistis was never seen in fits of laughter like she might be found when with her five world-saving buddies. And Seifer just seemed quiet. He didn't take any notice of anyone around him, didn't make any sly comments, didn't offer observations.

Right now, the two sat in the cafeteria at a table tucked away at the side of the room. Several people watched, puzzled and excited. Seifer didn't show any signs from the outside, but on the inside he was slowly reeling through a line of thought that had seemed to have occurred to him a million times since Quistis had been out of the infirmary. Maybe they should take a little more interest in their own lives instead of his, then maybe they wouldn't seem so pathetic. Still, whatever you do to make the time pass by, he thought.

Across the table, Quistis hadn't even noticed the gawking students. She was too deep inside her own head to even know what was going on around her. Two weeks. Two weeks since she had been shot by that bastard, she thought. Still, she had healed incredibly quickly, and was now at least able to sleep in her own dorm and go about the Garden as she pleased.

"Hey" Seifer snapped Quistis out of her daydream. "Do you wanna, y'know, maybe go somewhere where we haven't got slack-jawed morons staring at us?" The question was posed in more of a playful manner than an insulting one.

"Like where?" asked Quistis. Where in the Garden could they go where people wouldn't be observing them?

"I don't know" said Seifer. "Maybe the dorms".

"The dorms?" Quistis quickly blurted out, sounding more worried than she meant to.

Seifer paused and frowned at her. "Yeah?" The word was drenched in sarcasm. "Or we could go somewhere else. I don't care".

"Uh, fine, yeah. Okay, yeah" said Quistis. She almost seemed tense.

"What's up with you?" Seifer asked.

"Well, people might get the wrong idea" Quistis explained. "They might think we're some sort of, well, item".

"Who cares. I didn't think you where that bothered about what others think" Seifer stopped and looked around the room. He suddenly turned back to her. "And why does that have to be the _wrong _idea?"

Quistis looked to him and laughed lightly. "Very funny" she said. "C'mon, let's go". Quistis stood up and began to leave the cafeteria. Seifer got up shortly after, his movements looking slightly rigid.

"Quite a chunk you just took out of my self-esteem there Quistis" Seifer mumbled to himself, so only he could hear. "At least the others weren't around to see it happen". Seifer thought a simple 'Because that's the way I want it' would have done.

* * * *

"I'm sorry you didn't get to do the festival again this year honey" said Irvine suddenly. He was sat with his arm around Selphie, while she leaned back against his chest. They had been watching some TV show that Selphie liked quietly until Irvine had spoke.

"It's okay" Selphie replied, sounding somewhere between bored and irritated. "You've said it a million times. Besides, it wouldn't have seemed right without Quistis". Selphie's attention went back to the TV as Irvine looked out of the window at the small harbour town of Balamb. "There's always next year" said Selphie, momentarily leaning her head back to meet Irvine's gaze before going back to her show.

Irvine didn't really like the TV show Selphie was watching. It was probably why he was currently staring at Balamb, feeling insanely bored. But in someway absolutely content. Just having her sat with him made anything bearable. Evening the poorly acted, poorly scripted soap on TV right now. A 'Chick-Flick' as Irvine liked to call it. He stereotyped just about everything Selphie watched on TV under this category. The things just never had any gunfights in them. It was all emotional this, and someone died that, and someone else is getting married to the same person for the eighth time. But Irvine sat through it nonetheless, just in order to spend time with her. The chore wasn't without its rewards, after all.

Even sat with a dumb grin, seemingly in another world as a knock sounded on the door. Though he didn't awaken Irvine from what seemed to be a rather entertaining daydream, Selphie got up and answered.

"Hello" said a somewhat cheerful sounding Zell as he appeared from behind the door.

"Hi" said Selphie. "What are you so happy about?"

"Well, um" Zell faltered, scratching the back of his head as his excitement turned to awkwardness. "Me and Nevaeh are going into Pelin for a meal tonight, and I wondered if you and Irvine wanted to come too".

"Like a double date?" asked Selphie, deliberately putting Zell on the spot.

"Yeah, I suppose. Whatever you wanna call it" Zell answered, looking to his right, down the corridor. He tried to make it look as if he was uninterested and didn't really hear the question. Selphie didn't really think he'd done a very good job of it.

"Hang on" Selphie said as she turned around and walked back into the dorm. "Come in" she said without looking at Zell, motioning over her shoulder with her hand.

Zell stepped inside and suddenly felt as if luck was just not on his side at this particular time. He saw Irvine staring at out of Selphie's window, obviously thinking about something he deemed as good. It's not that he didn't like Irvine, he just knew he wasn't the most delicate of people. All he needed right now was the sort of questions Irvine would ask. He could prepare himself for the dinner, where Irvine would probably do much the same. He just didn't expect it right now.

"Hey Irvy" Selphie said, grabbing the tip of Irvine's hat and shaking it about until he woke out of daydream and looked up at her. "Zell's here" she said and pointed in Zell's direction.

"Oh, hey Zell" Irvine said, getting up and smiling.

Selphie walked over to the side of the room and opened a small refrigerator tucked away in a corner. "You want something to drink, Zell?" she asked as she looked over the contents of the cooled-cupboard.

"Uh, no" Zell said. "Thanks" he quickly added.

"What're you doing here?" asked Irvine, Zell looking away from Selphie and back to him.

"Uh" Zell faltered as he had with Selphie, but this time wasn't as forthcoming with the information.

"Zell wanted to invite us to dinner in Pelin tonight" said Selphie, picking out a soda form the refrigerator and closing the door. She walked over towards the two men. "With him and Nevaeh".

"Oh" said Irvine, drawing the word out, slowly turning his gaze from Selphie to Zell as he did so. "Well that's nice. I haven't been on a double date in a long time".

"Nothing fancy" Zell started, trying to play down the hype that Irvine was already building up. "Just a quick dinner. Something different for a change".

Just as Irvine was about to reply, Selphie looked at her watch. "Oh shoot" she said. Both men laughed quietly. Despite the fact that it sounded like she wanted to, she could never find it within herself to use slightly more extreme expletives. "I've got some stuff to take care of. I'll see ya later, K?" Selphie stepped closer to Irvine and pushed herself up on her tiptoes, kissing Irvine on the cheek.

"Yeah, okay" replied Irvine, smiling at her.

Selphie turned and walked towards the door and past Zell. His eyes said 'God please, don't leave me with the cowboy right now' but she didn't notice. "See ya later Zell" was the only response he got from her as she closed the door to the room behind herself.

Zell turned away from the now closed door and back to Irvine. The cowboy stood with wide grin on his face. "So" said Irvine, drawing out the word again. "Dinner with Nevaeh, eh? Very nice". Irvine continued to grin as he took slow, heavy steps across the room and let himself fall onto the sofa.

"Don't start" said Zell, walking over to the chair opposite Irvine. He slumped into it in an infinitely less confident manner than his friend sat in front of him.

"Start what?" Irvine asked. "She's a pretty girl. I think I understand the attraction".

"It's probably best that you don't with you and your reputation" retorted Zell.

"C'mon Zell. I only got eyes for one lucky lady" Irvine said, raising his feet up and stretching out across the sofa. He raised his arms up and leant his head oh his hands.

"And if I didn't know as well I would never have invited you" said Zell, laughing a little. Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he had thought.

"Bah" Irvine shrugged. "You got no cause for concern here. I'm happy with what I got". Zell believed it too. Just about everyone knew that what Irvine had said was true. "I ain't gonna hound you about this" Irvine suddenly stated.

"Huh?" Zell blurted out confusedly.

"Sure I gave Squall a rough time with Rinoa, but I think you deserve this". Irvine sounded sincere, which told Zell that he should keep his guard up. "Squall was bumbling. He kinda stumbled into his relationship with Rinoa" Irvine continued to sound like he meant what he was saying. "But you surprised me". Zell frowned. Had Irvine been watching his every move? "You were discreet" Irvine continued. "I thought you were gonna practically fall into this kinda thing, but I'm beginning to think I underestimated you".

"I didn't think you put this much thought into relationships. Especially other people's" said Zell.

"A common mistake on the part of just about everyone who tries to assess my character" said Irvine. "And anyway, I've been forced to put more thought into it. So many failed ones in the past and all".

"So your not gonna make a big scene tonight?" asked Zell.

"Assuming me and Selphie go?" said Irvine. He noticed that Selphie had left before a decision had been made. "No, I shouldn't go too crazy". Irvine emphasized the last statement with a grin and raise of his eyebrows.

"Thanks dude" said Zell, standing up in the process. "If you guys do come, meet us in the hanger at about seven. Try and get in touch with me before hand to tell me whether you can make it or not".

"Okay. I know how these things run" said Irvine knowingly. "Just promise you'll keep it together and not mess up".

Zell smiled as he walked to the door and opened it. He turned back towards Irvine and raised his hand. "See ya" he added. Irvine merely raised his hand to tap his hat, then waved once with only his index and middle finger raised.

* * *

Author's Note: - This one has taken a really long time, but I have had exams and AVCE courses to deal with at college. Anyway, hopefully this chapter will signify the beginning of an extended period of work on 'Historical Bonds' but I can't say for sure. There are far more complications for me to deal with now than there were when I started writing the fic. Who knows if I will ever finish it!

C ya...


	8. Dinner And Deceit

**Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds**

**Chapter 8 - Dinner And Deceit**

By: Fat Zombie 

(Chapter dedicated to Kezzer. Please check out her FF8 fic 'Otherworld' here on fanfiction.net)

* * *

**We're lookin' money and she's super clean,**

**The fins are flying sculpted silver gleam.**

**Where is she going with a punk like this,**

**I like the looks it gets, I like the way it hits.**

**Taken from Lit - Down**

* * *

"Money, check. Are these clothes _really_ clean. Yes". Zell ran through a checklist out loud in his dorm as he got ready for his date. He walked across the room. "Does my hair look good?" He glanced in mirror mounted on the wall. "God yes" he concluded. "No, no. Don't get big-headed. She'll think you're a dick".

"She would if she could see you now" Nida's voice suddenly sounded from behind Zell.

Zell quickly spun around. "How did you..." he trailed off.

"One of the perks to being technically minded" Nida said with a slight grin. "Those card readers aren't hard to fool if you know how".

"I don't know how much I like the idea of that" said Zell. He was half-joking, half-honest.

"You know I wouldn't abuse it" said Nida, again grinning.

"So what are you doing now?" asked Zell in monotone.

"If I were you I'd be more worried about the sudden bout of talking to thin air. You won't be good company if you spend the night chatting to yourself".

"I know, I know. I'm nervous man." explained Zell. "It's worse now 'cos everyone knows. I wasn't expecting Irvine to tell you and the rest".

"Then you let your guard down _way_ too much" Nida replied. "Anyway, there's not really much to be nervous about".

"How do you work that one out" Zell asked, his eyes dead.

"It's a meal" Nida said loudly. "You go to the place, you eat, you talk, you laugh, sometimes you tip the staff, then you come home. No. Big. Deal".

"Hmm" Zell mumbled. "Well that's easy for you to say".

"Hey, eating is eating" Nida retorted. "As long as you don't tip food all down yourself, then it's not any different from any other meal".

"And if I do?" Zell asked.

"Then you're a bumbling idiot who deserves the consequences of those actions" Nida answered with a smirk. "It's basically all set anyway. The girl is just waiting for you to ask her out".

"I know" said Zell, his tone indicating acknowledgment. "But it's not that easy".

"Ain't no one else gonna do it for you" Nida stated.

* * * *

"Does this look okay?" Nevaeh asked. The room stayed silent. "Is it too formal?" She twisted and turned in front of a mirror, taking in the way the clothes looked on her from every angle possible. "Or is it too casual?"

Nevaeh turned to face an empty room. She forgave herself for the madness which had displayed itself in the form of talking to no one. Anyone would be nervous right? Except her. She didn't get nervous. She was cool, calm and collected at all times; her SeeD exams proved that. So why couldn't she stay still right now? No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't sit down. She couldn't stop worrying about something. The things she was worrying about didn't even have to have anything to do with her date tonight. Did she ever say sorry to that young boy she kicked in the shin when she was five years old? Probably not.

"Get a grip girl" she said to herself out loud. "You're going crazy over this. He's only asked you out to dinner" she told herself. "It's not like he's proposing or anything. Good thing too".

Nevaeh decided that talking to herself was getting boring, and a little creepy. If she couldn't stop her mouth moving, she should at least find another person to talk to. She picked up her jacket and walked to the door, opening it and stepping out into the corridor outside.

She walked quickly towards the main hall. She didn't know where she was going to go. She just needed to find someone she knew. She wasn't dressed for the Training Centre. That much was obvious. The cafeteria was shut at this time, so that was ruled out. That left the library. She didn't think anyone would stand around in the garage and hoped she wouldn't find any of her friends in the Infirmary.

So, she headed for the library. Admittedly it probably wasn't the most suitable place to go when a person couldn't stop talking, but Nevaeh couldn't think of anywhere else.

* * * *

The car moved onwards at a high speed. Quistis and himself had just just Balamb Garden on an apparently important mission. Seifer concentrated half on the road, and half on Quistis. It was difficult to keep his eyes off her. Somehow she managed to make her outfit look so good, yet also perform highly active SeeD missions in it as well. A long skirt didn't appear practical, but it seemed to work. He quickly looked at the dashboard, observing the clock. It was 6:44 PM. He had a feeling they would make it to their destination in record time.

"Have you got the orders for this" Quistis asked Seifer.

"Yeah. They're in an equipment bag in the trunk" Seifer answered. Quistis shot him a questioning look. Seifer glanced at her quickly before returning his eyes to the road. "Rinoa said that Squall had said it was urgent. I just took what I needed, stuffed the paper in the bag and got you into the car. All I know is we gotta get to Pelin".

"Something doesn't sound right" Quistis stated. She looked sternly at Seifer.

"Well if it is, then don't blame me" Seifer quickly said. "Go place that icy stare on him".

"What do you mean icy stare?" Quistis asked angrily. "What's icy about it?"

Seifer choked back laughter. "Apart from the unmoving gaze and cold, glacier blue eyes?" The question was rhetorical. "Nothing".

"How dare you?" Quistis started.

"How dare I?" Seifer interrupted. "Listen peroxide girl" Quistis face tightened into one of absolute rage. Seifer didn't take any notice. "You're not my instructor anymore. That mission, _ you_ know which one, was proof enough that I'm good enough to be a SeeD. I'll say what I want to. All I'm doing is following orders, you're the one questioning them".

"If you were ordered to jump out the Ragnarok, would you?" Quistis asked.

"It depends what I was gonna land on. If it was a menace comparable to your temper, then no" Seifer answered. "If that were the case, I'd hijack the ship and fly as far away as possible".

"Be serious" Quistis shouted. Seifer smirked.

"I am" he said. "I'm trying to follow these orders".

The car fell silent. Short of the screaming engine, nothing could be heard, most of all from its two occupants. If they were going to be working together, Seifer thought someone should try and calm the situation before it got worse. But he was damned if he was going to be the one to do it. If that was so, Seifer could see this was going to be a quiet trip.

"And what the hell do you mean, 'Peroxide Girl'?" Quistis suddenly said, the anger still blatantly obvious in her tone. The sudden outburst took Seifer by surprise. For once, he hadn't read her at all. "This is natural. Can the same be said for you?"

"Yes" Seifer replied. "Do you really think I'd let things as petty as bleaching my hair enter my life?" The question had an obvious answer, and seeing as Quistis seemed willing to continue the argument, Seifer decided he'd have some fun. "And anyway, no matter what you say, I'll still think you're an aircraft blonde".

"What do you mean, 'Aircraft Blonde'?" Quistis asked. She was obviously offended by the term, despite not knowing what it meant.

"I mean you're white on top but there's a black box hidden down below" Seifer explained, a huge, satisfied grin falling across his face.

* * * *

It was 7:01 PM. Zell had been pacing around in the hanger for ten minutes already. He was waiting to see if his 'double date' friends would show up, but mostly waiting on Nevaeh. He just hoped she would arrive soon. As he continued to pace back and forth, he recited a song by one of his favourite bands. On this particular occasion though, he changed some of the words to reflect his current situation. "Is it worth it are you even coming?" he sang. He murmured the next few lines, then finished with "It's, gone past seven in the fuckin' evenin'".

"You should be in a band". Zell spun around at the sound of the voice. "But wait, aren't you already?". He saw Nevaeh standing at the entrance to the hanger. She harboured a slight grin.

"Am I in a band?" Asked Zell. Nevaeh merely raised her eyebrows, conveying a 'Yes'. "I wouldn't say that" Zell explained. "I'd say I almost was".

"Well I think you should be" Nevaeh stated. "I would have loved to see you and Nida play at the Garden Festival".

"How naive are you?" Zell asked rhetorically, his tone humourous.

Although the question needed no answer, Nevaeh spoke up anyway. "I'm serious. I would have loved to see that".

"Really?" asked Zell. He was obviously apprehensive. In fact, he was expecting some kind of scathing remark. But it never came.

"Yes, really" Nevaeh confirmed.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with that" said Zell. "No festival, no band".

"We'll see about that next year" a small but loud voice called out from down the corridor leading to the hanger. A few seconds later, Irvine and Selphie came into view.

"Howdy y'all" Irvine greeted. "Sorry we're a bit late. Selphie's hair went straight" He paused to gage his girlfriend's reaction. "It was tragic" he added mockingly.

"Be quiet" Selphie snapped. It was hard to tell whether she was joking or not, and everyone silently decided to not dwell on it.

"Well" Irvine broke the silence. "Are we ready to go?"

* * * *

The car pulled into a parking space outside of a fancy looking building. Neither Quistis nor Seifer paid any attention to the name of the building. Seifer quickly looked at the dashboard clock again. It read 8:47 PM. Around two hours was a good time from Balamb to Pelin by car, he observed. 

The two SeeDs both simultaneously got out of the car and headed for the trunk, for the orders of their mission. As Seifer slid the key into the lock, Quistis surveyed the area loosely. "There doesn't seem to be any sign of trouble" she observed suspiciously.

Seifer briefly looked up. "No" he said. The word was drawn out, as if he was trying to come up with a reason but couldn't. "Anyway" he continued, as he unzipped a bag and pulled the mission orders out of the now open trunk. "Pay attention". Quistis gave time to a slight frown in Seifer's direction before looking to the printed pieces of paper Seifer had laid out on the back of the car. From a distance, the orders looked to be official and genuine. The SeeD stamp was firmly placed on every document, as was the Balamb Garden logo at the top of each page. It wasn't until the two conducted closer inspection that the orders became dubious.

_To SeeD members whom this concerns,_

_Your brief is as follows._

_Assuming you have parked within the area originally designated to you in your earlier conversation with your superiors, you should now be standing in front of a building. It should look somewhat old fashioned. All will seem normal to you at this point._

Seifer and Quistis both looked to the building opposite them. It did indeed look old fashioned, but remarkably well-maintained. Through the windows, they could see people eating food and waiters busily going about their business. They continued reading.

_This building is the focus of your mission. It is of the utmost importance. You are to enter this building when you begin this mission. You are required to approach the front desk, and inform the attendant that you have booked a table for two in the restaurant for the evening. When asked, give the name 'Rumpiticky'._

"Rumpiticky?" Seifer asked bemusedly.

"I know no more than you" Quistis replied, before turning her attention back to the orders.

_The attendant should verify the booking, and lead you to your table. From here, your objectives are very clear._

_1 - Order some wine. Cost is not an object, as the bill will be taken care of by Garden._

_2 - Order some food. A starter, main course and dessert should be ordered. Cost applies as above._

_3 - HAVE A GOOD TIME TOGETHER BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON!_

_I shall not expect you back at Garden before 1200 hours. Should you return before this time, the beds will be removed from your dorms and will not be replaced until one week later._

_Rinoa Heartilly_

_Sorceress and Match-Maker._

"Rinoa" both Quistis and Seifer said through gritted teeth.

"I bet ya Squall had nothing to do with this" Seifer stated. He began to pace back and forth, along the width of the car.

"For once I agree" Quistis concurred.

"I can't believe she did this" Seifer said.

His tone was angry, but Quistis felt it was slightly over-exaggerated. "What are you up to?" she asked. She raised a single eyebrow into a wicked peak for affect.

"What?" Seifer asked. He stopped pacing. "What are you talking about?"

"All this" Quistis explained. "I somehow feel you had some part to play in this".

Seifer looked at her, a self-satisfied smirk etching itself on his face. This time, Quistis sensed no exaggeration. This was genuine. "I had nothing to do with this" he informed her. "I've just spent the journey here arguing with you. Do you think I'd want to spend three hours alone in a room with you as well?"

"For once, your bluntness has proved useful" Quistis stated.

The two fell silent. Seifer resumed pacing while Quistis turned to the car. She picked up the 'orders' and threw them back into the trunk, slamming the door shut. She turned and leaned against the sloping back of the car. She watched Seifer walk from one side of her to the other repeatedly in mild amusement. He jolted to a sudden stop.

Seifer raised a single hand as to signal he was going to speak. The gesture seemed to communicate some form of submission. "It's two hours drive back to Balamb" he stated. Quistis gave him a look as if to carry on. "What I'm saying is, we might as well make the most of the situation". Quistis shot him another look, this time a questioning one. "Have you had proper food in recent memory?" he asked. "I mean gourmet cooking. I know I haven't".

Quistis glance shifted to the floor. It was obvious that she was thinking, deliberating Seifer's proposal. After a short moment, she looked back up to Seifer. "When you put it like that, I suppose it would be stupid to pass up the opportunity".

"Exactly" Seifer agreed. The two headed of towards the restaurant, unsure of how the night would unfold. "But you give our reservation name at the front desk" Seifer added quickly.

* * *

Author's Note: - Okay guys. I really apologize about this chapter taking sooo long. Things really have been hectic in the last few months. I'm once again heading into exams, I have a whole new entourage to hang with, and other people that I have to attend to. I'm hoping I can get back into this now. My priorities have changed recently, so hopefully this will mean that 'Historical Bonds' (Or 'HB' as I have now decided to call it in my author notes) is no longer left on the back-burner. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. These ones have moved away from the action side of things and more onto the actual characters but this will change back and forth throughout the story. Take care, and I hope to see some more reviews!

Also, thanks to Kezzer for reviewing the story recently, and again, thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

C ya...


	9. Jokes, Near Death Experiences And Everyt...

**Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds**

**Chapter 9 - Jokes, Near Death Experiences And Everything In Between**

By: Fat Zombie 

* * *

**Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens,**

**A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins,**

**I will never ask if you don't ever tell me,**

**I know you well enough to know... **

** Why can't I feel anything,**

**From anyone other than you?**

**Taken from Taking Back Sunday - Cut From The Team**

* * *

"This is it" said Zell quickly.

"What?" Irvine asked. He was obviously confused as to where he was meant to be going and was trying to concentrate on driving as well. "Where am I goin' Zell?"

"Right there". Zell pointed in the direction of the restaurant. "There. Right there".

"Where?" Irvine asked again. Zell opened his mouth to say something but Irvine spoke before he could. "Oh, I see. Right there". He pointed to the restaurant.

"Yes" Zell confirmed, sounding a little exhausted.

"Looks like a nice place" Irvine commented.

The car pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and quickly swerved into a space, jolting to a rather harsh stop. Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Nevaeh all got out, randomly stretching journey-sick limbs. Irvine wondered off for a walk, trying to get his muscles back to full working order.

"Thank god that's over" Selphie said.

"Agreed" Nevaeh stated, stretching her arms above her head.

"It'll be worth it" said Zell. "I promise. This place-"

"Hey guys" Irvine interrupted Zell. "Come and take a look at this".

Selphie, Nevaeh and Zell walked over to Irvine. He was stood next to a car. He was looking at it in detail, peering in through the windows.

"What is it?" asked Zell. "Someone's gonna think you're trying to steal that".

"Fat chance" said Irvine.

"Why's that?" asked Zell.

"'Cos its got Balamb Garden plates bolted to it" Irvine answered.

"So someone else from Garden is here" stated Selphie. "So what?"

"Well here's the thing" said Irvine. He bent down to look into one of the car's windows. The rest of the group followed suit. "Isn't that Seifer's gunblade?"

"Hey. It is" Zell confirmed. "You can see the markings at the top".

"Guys" Selphie said.

"What?" Both Zell and Irvine asked in unison.

"That's Quistis' Red Scorpion on the back seat" Selphie pointed out. Both men looked in.

"Holy shit" Irvine blurted.

"Seifer and Quistis are here together?" Zell said. It sounded like a question but he already knew the answer.

"Son of a gun" said Irvine.

"Let's go" Nevaeh suddenly said. She headed off towards the restaurant.

The group followed on. Zell ran to catch up to Nevaeh. "What are you gonna do?" he asked.

"See if they're in there" Nevaeh answered simply.

The four SeeDs made their way to the side of the restaurant. They bent down below the window to make sure they wouldn't be seen. Eventually, the four reached the wall of the building and poked their heads up high enough to see in. They all scanned the restaurant for any sight of their two friends.

"I don't see them" Selphie stated.

"Me neither" Nevaeh agreed.

"I do" said Irvine.

"Where?" asked Zell.

"Look to the back left corner of the room. Its a small table" Irvine explained.

"Hey, yeah. I see them" Selphie agreed.

"Uh-huh" Nevaeh seconded.

"They look kind of tense" said Zell.

Irvine spotted Seifer getting up and walking off somewhere. "I know what'll make 'em more tense" he said, standing up and walking towards the entrance to the restaurant.

"Hey" said Selphie. She and the rest of the group followed. While Nevaeh looked confused, Selphie looked slightly worried and Zell and Irvine both wore evilly mischievous grins. The group approached the reception desk. An old man dressed in a tuxedo stood behind it.

"Good evening" the old man said courteously. "Do you have reservations?"

"Uh, yeah" said Zell while stepping forward. "A table for four. The name is Dincht".

The old man looked through a book on the desk. "Yes, I see" he confirmed. "Would you like me to show you to your table?"

"We have some business to attend to first" said Irvine, leaning forward. "Could you tell us which it is?"

"Of course sir" said the old man. "Its the table over by the window right there" he continued, pointing to the table. "I'll send a waiter over as soon as you are all in your seats".

"Thank you very much" Irvine said with subtle smile. He walked off through the restaurant with his three friends following. All tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and Irvine spoke out of the side of his mouth. "Selphie and Nevaeh, you go and talk to Quisty".

Nevaeh nodded but Selphie spoke up. "Where are you two going?"

Zell turned as the group split in different directions. "To find Seifer" he answered with that same mischievous grin.

* * * *

Seifer looked to the man at the bar. "Yes sir" the barman asked.

"Gin and Tonic and a large Whiskey" Seifer stated.

As much as it wasn't phrased as a request, the barman understood nonetheless. "Coming right up sir" he said and turned away to fix the drinks.

Seifer leant forward against the bar and stared down at its polished top. Quite how he'd gotten himself into this one he'd never work out. Obviously Rinoa was the reason he and Quistis where in this restaurant, but quite why she felt the need to stick her nose in was beyond him. Out of it all, two things were certain. One was that if Rinoa knew something or thought she did, everyone else would soon think the same. The second, and more important in Seifer's opinion was that Quistis might think the same. Seifer still couldn't work out whether that was a good thing or not, but for the moment he decided to waive optimism and just assume that it wasn't.

"Well, well, well" a familiar Galbadian accent rang out in Seifer's ears, jogging him away from his thoughts. "What have here?". It was the cowboy! What the hell was he doing here?

"Doesn't seem like somewhere you'd usually hang out" another familiar voice said. The blonde doofus was here too.

Determined to give the two the reaction they didn't want, Seifer turned around with a smirk on his face, his left eyebrow slightly peaked. "The same could be said for you Dincht" Seifer said. He looked at his two fellow SeeDs stood before him. "Aren't we looking smart tonight?" he observed. "Well, as smart as I've seen at least". It wasn't that either Zell or Irvine looked particularly formal. They'd just notably made an effort to tidy themselves up for the occasion.

"Aren't we looking slightly underdressed?" Irvine retorted.

"Yeah" Zell agreed. "Didn't you know what type of restaurant this was before you brought Quisty here?". Zell wore a smug grin.

"No, in fact" Seifer answered. His bluntness wiped the grin from Zell's face, much to Seifer's enjoyment.

"In any case" Irvine interjected. "How'd you get Quistis here anyway? Drug her?"

"Kidnapping instructors is frowned upon at Balamb Garden" Zell added.

"Then Rinoa is in big trouble" Seifer explained.

"Huh?" Zell grunted.

"She gave us an 'urgent mission' in this town" Seifer began to explain. "We didn't open the orders until we got here 'cos we were in such a rush" he continued. "When we read them, we found out she'd set us both up on some 'date' here". He looked around quickly to see where the barman was. Two drinks seemed to be taking an extraordinarily large amount of time to prepare. "Wasn't my idea" he added.

"No way" Zell muttered.

"Yep" Seifer said, raising his eyebrows briefly.

"She really went to all that trouble?" Irvine asked. "Rinoa, I mean".

"Yeah" Seifer answered. "Orders are out in the car if you want proof".

The three fell silent. Neither Zell nor Irvine had expected this to be the case. They had been ready to really give Seifer hell over the situation and now they were the ones left speechless. Eventually they all turned to face the bar at the sound of the barman clearing his throat. "Your drinks sir" he said, sliding to glasses in front of Seifer.

"Thanks" Seifer said, picking up the glasses. He turned to face Irvine and Zell. "Shall we?" he asked. All three headed for Seifer and Quistis' table.

* * * *

"She did that?" asked Nevaeh, a tone of disbelief in her voice.

"Yes" Quistis confirmed.

"If you knew Rinoa better Nevaeh, this wouldn't be so much of a shock to you" Selphie explained. The news didn't appear to shock her.

"You seem very unsurprised" Quistis' commented on Selphie's reaction. "You're not in on this are you?"

"God no" Selphie answered quickly. "She's acting completely on her own on this one" she explained. "Unless Squall's in on it, and somehow I can't see that being the case".

"Me neither" Quistis agreed.

Suddenly from across the restaurant, a loud voice called out. "Ladies, ladies, ladies" it said. It was Irvine, walking towards the three girls with Seifer and Zell. "Look who we found" he added, pointing to Seifer.

"He was on his way outta here when we caught him" Zell joked. Seifer merely held up the drinks, signifying he'd been at the bar. Quistis nodded an acknowledgement.

"Six people and two seats guys" Irvine observed. "I think this a little outta proportion".

Irvine jumped and turned around quickly as a voice began to speak behind him. "I believe I can help there sir" it said. It was the old man from the reception desk.

"Jesus" Irvine shrieked in a higher-than-usual pitch. The old man choked down a laugh. "That was really somethin'" Irvine commented.

"Would you like a table that would accommodate your whole group sir?" the old man asked.

"Is one available?" Zell asked.

"Yes sir" the old man answered.

"That would be great" Zell confirmed. "Uh, if its not too much trouble" he quickly added.

"Not at all sir" the old man smiled. "Right this way".

The old man led them to a large table at the back of the restaurant near a window. From their seats they would be able to view the village of Pelin below, lit up for the night. They could see that directly behind the restaurant there was a concrete walkway about five feet wide then a steep hill that led all the way down to the village. They all sat and the old man took Irvine, Selphie, Zell and Nevaeh's drink orders then left, mentioning that he would send a waiter over as soon as possible. As sure as clockwork, a young boy of fourteen or so arrived with menus and took the group's orders. Quistis caught some abuse for being the only vegetarian in the group, though it was all in good fun. This was pretty much the way the whole night went on, everyone joking and having a good time. Even Seifer and Quistis were getting along, which took Zell a little time to get used to but he excepted it in the end.

By 11:30 PM the whole group were more than slightly inebriated. Occasionally fits of laughter at nothing did occur, but for the most part the SeeDs didn't really display the amount of drink they had managed to consume between them.

At this particular point, Irvine had gone to the bar to get more drinks for the group. He'd noted that the barman had changed since the last time he'd went. It didn't seem too matter much, and he quickly forgot about it. He set the drinks down on the table and slid in next to Selphie. Everyone slid their drinks in front of them. Now that Irvine had returned, Zell decided to continue his story. He began to speak, his speech slightly slurred. "So Seifer" he began. "Seifer straps Squall up to this wall by his arms and legs, and starts to electrocute him periodically" Zell explained.

"Oh my god" said Nevaeh. "You actually did that" she asked Seifer.

He was noticeably red in his face but tried to explain nonetheless. "I was under the influence of the biggest evil this world has ever known" he said. "What's a guy to do?"

Nevaeh nodded. Under normal circumstances she may have questioned more, but as her current state didn't qualify as 'normal circumstances' she accepted Seifer's words with the minimum of protest.

"Anyway" Zell said, bringing the attention back to himself. "Seifer leaves Squall in the custody of some guard" Zell started again. "Some asshole with a bad moustache" he commented. "This guy proceeds to interrogate Squall on what SeeD really is. What it stands for". Nevaeh nodded for him to carry on. "So he carries on blasting Squall with this electricity every time he refuses to talk, and eventually Squall gives. He says "I'll tell you what SeeD is", and the guard is all excited, like y'know, he's broken the leader of the enemy". Nevaeh nodded again. "So Squall lifts his head and he says "SeeD stands for spreading seeds all around the world to grow flowers, so everyone will be happy and will never fight again"". Zell burst into laughter as he finished, quickly followed by the rest of the group. Tears streamed down Zell's face as he banged his fist on the table. The group wouldn't have probably found the story so funny normally, but once again this wasn't 'normal'.

Zell slowly recovered as several of the group continued to convulse with fits of laughter. He picked up his drink and raised it to his mouth, but stopped before he tipped any down his throat. "Hey" he said. The group continued to laugh. "HEY" he said louder. Slowly the rest of his friends stopped laughing and looked at him. "My drink smells weird" he said. "Does anyone else's drink smell weird?" The rest of the group all picked up the drinks and sniffed the liquid inside.

"Yes" Seifer answered immediately.

"Mine too" Irvine stated.

"I don't know" said Selphie. "I've never had one of these before, I don't know what its supposed to smell like". The group all looked at Selphie briefly, then resumed looking to one another for each others reaction to their drinks.

"Mine" Quistis paused, smelling the liquid a second time. "Mine smells like Lataxis" she stated. "It's a poison found in Laboratis snakes, its deadly to humans".

"That's it" said Irvine. "It is. We used to get them out in the desert in Galbadia".

Everyone put their drinks down on the table and pushed them away from themselves. "Something is very wrong here" Zell stated. The whole group stood up slowly, all having the same instinct to leave as quickly as possible.

The whole restaurant went quiet as a voice shouted out. "DON'T ANY OF YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP" the voice screamed. The barman that Irvine had noticed earlier stood on the bar-top, brandishing a sub-machine gun of some sorts.

The shock had been enough to sober the group of SeeDs up quickly. Almost. "That would be the 'wrong' part" Seifer muttered under his breath. He subtlety poked around his right hip, forgetting that he'd left 'Hyperion' in the car. "Hey cowboy" he addressed Irvine, still under his breath. "You don't happen to carry that shooter everywhere with you, do you?"

"All but romantic evenings out, I'm afraid" Irvine replied quietly.

The barman come gunman had lowered his tone to one of instruction. "Now" he began. "You're all gonna sit back down in your seats" he told the SeeDs. As the gunman began to walk towards them, a woman fainted, falling from her chair and knocking the gunman off balance.

This was all Zell, who was nearest to the window needed. He cocked back his elbow and drove it through the pane of glass. "OUT" he shouted as he grabbed Nevaeh and hopped the shattered hole. Quistis and Seifer quickly followed, and Irvine slung his long coat around Selphie and followed his friends. They all hit the floor as the gunman opened up on the shattered window with his machine gun. "THE CARS" Zell shouted above the noise of the gun. "GET TO THE CARS".

The team ran with their heads down as low as possible round the side of the building towards the parking lot. "Can any of us actually drive safely right now?" Nevaeh asked loudly.

A window shattered above Seifer, bullets crashing through. "I THINK I'LL TAKE MY CHANCES" he shouted.

The group continued onwards towards the cars, and stopped at the edge of the building for cover. Zell leaned his head out and surveyed the parking lot. "I can see them from here" he said, turning to face the group. "It doesn't look like there's anyone out there" he explained. "I say me and Seifer make a dash for each of the cars". Seifer nodded. "Once we've got them started, you guys make it out there as fast as possible and we get the fuck out of here". The whole team nodded. "Right then" Zell smirked at Seifer.

With that, the two took off at a full run towards the cars, Zell slightly ahead of Seifer. Bullets bounced off the pavement all around them, sparks shooting up as hot metal struck cold concrete. "Shit" Irvine muttered, watching as the two ran.

Just as Zell got within twenty-five feet of the cars, a bright light illuminated the engine compartments of both. This was followed by a deafening explosion, knocking Zell off his feet and causing Seifer to stop in his tracks and raise his arms in front of his face. "HOLY SHIT" Irvine shouted as he watched both cars fly into the air, now nothing more than huge fireballs. He stood slightly and readying himself to run to his friends' aid. However Seifer recovered quickly and dragged Zell to his feet, pulling him back towards the group and the cover of the restaurant wall.

Once Zell had gathered himself Irvine led the group back around the side of the restaurant to the rear where they had originally exited. "What are we supposed to do back here?" asked Selphie.

Irvine looked at her, then at the drop. "GUESS" he shouted, before literally throwing himself over the edge.

"Oh shit" was Seifer's only comment.

"No way" said Selphie. "No way am I doing that".

"SHUT UP" Seifer shouted as he pushed her over the edge and down the hill. He was sure he heard her shriek over the gunfire as she tumbled away. He smiled to himself.

Quistis noticed Seifer look to her questioningly. "I believe I'll take care of it myself" she said, and jumped over the edge. Nevaeh quickly followed Quistis.

"C'MON" Seifer shouted at Zell. The martial artist stood up, keeping his head down and walked toward the edge.

"Why are people always trying to kill us?" he asked, throwing himself down the hill immediately after.

Seifer moved to the edge and peered over. He could vaguely make out the clouds of dust being thrown up by his friends further down the hill. "Maybe the world just hates heroes" he said before jumping down the hill.

* * *

Author's Note: - How was that one? Returning to the action again. WAHOO! Well, 'wahoo' if that's what you like anyway. In any case, I'm sorry that this has taken so long. I don't think I'm gonna bother sayin' "I hope to get the next chapter out soon" 'cos somethin' always comes up that dictates that I can't get it out as fast as intended. Instead I think I'm gonna just say that the next chapter will be done when its done.

If anyone is wonderin', I used Quistis 'Red Scorpion' whip instead of her Save The Queen 'cos I hated the name. And the story about Squall on the electric wall may not be absolutely correct but I figured that Zell was drunk and wasn't present at the time in the game so he's not gonna be able to tell it perfectly well. Oh, and you're wonderin' about the song lines at the start - I know they don't really fit the chapter but I couldn't find anythin' that really fitted. If anythin' it feels like it might display Zell's mindset coming into this chpater, but I'm probably clutching at straws! Those words are only there 'cos I like to out them in anyway!

As always, reviews are welcome (In fact they're exactly what I want) so I can find out what you think is good about the story, what is bad, and in general what you liked about the chapter and what you expect to happen in the next chapter. I always like to hear people's predictions. I may not write the chapter to fit them but its fun to see what direction readers think 'FF:HS' will head in next, and sometimes it gives me some good ideas to include in the next chapter.

Oh yeah. If anyone has a problem with the use of the word 'f*ck' in this chapter or any others then please tell me. It just occurred to me that my story is rated as a PG-13 and realised that some people may have a problem with kids that young reading stories with these words in. If so I'll up the rating to R but I doubt that will stop kids below that age reading it anyway!

Till next time, c ya!


	10. A Knight With Nightvision

**Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds**

**Chapter 10 - A Knight With Nightvision**

By: Fat Zombie 

* * *

**This situation isn't getting any better,**

**I see that look in your eyes.**

**Taken from Funeral For A Friend - Red Is The New Black**

* * *

"Sir" said the young SeeD as Squall entered the room. Rinoa and Cid followed closely behind.

The room was a myriad of technology. Screens and futuristic, technological readouts lined the walls, at least fifteen SeeDs sitting at various stations with keyboards in front of them. All seemed to be working furiously.

"Where are they?" Squall asked concernedly, his jaw set to form an expression of determination.

"I don't know sir" the young SeeD answered.

"SeeD intelligence and you don't know where your own people are, Lieutenant?" Squall asked. He was obviously annoyed.

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't fit individual tracking devices to each SeeD" the officer retorted back. There was sarcasm in his tone, and the young man wished he hadn't opened his mouth as soon as he'd finished speaking.

"This is not the time for dry wit, Lain" Squall said, obviously angered by Lain's comment. His tone softened. "What can you tell me?" Squall asked.

"They're not in the cars" Lain began. He walked over to a monitor that resembled a radar of sorts, only it had a map of somewhere underneath the circling line. Lain beckoned Squall, Rinoa and Cid to follow. "Now the cars did have tracking devices installed, but they stopped responding about five minutes ago" Squall nodded. "The last time we heard from these devices, they were situated here" Lain pointed to a spot on the map.

"Pelin" Rinoa blurted out. "The restaurant" she said. Squall, Lain and Cid all looked at Rinoa briefly, but she seemed to be thinking deeply.

"They'd been there for several hours before they stopped responding" Lain stated, regaining Cid and Squall's attention.

"Do we have any idea what's happened to them?" Cid asked, sounding worried.

"It just so happens that the two cars your missing SeeDs took where two of the five new cars installed with data-streaming cameras" Lain informed. "They were designed to give officers at Garden an idea of the situations their SeeDs in the field were facing, but they've also proved useful here". Lain walked over to another monitor. A SeeD sat in front of the monitor, his hands poised over a keyboard on a desk below the screen. "Corporal" Lain addressed the station operator. "Bring up the surveillance tape from Car Two-Two".

"Yessir" the Corporal responded, his fingers flying away at the keyboard. Within seconds, a video appeared on the screen.

"Wind the tape forward to eleven thirty-four PM" Lain ordered. The Corporal once again went to work on the keyboard. A few seconds later the video resumed at normal speed, a clock in the upper left corner of the monitor reading 11:34 PM. On the screen was an image of the restaurant Zell and the group had been at earlier in the evening. "The group went for a meal at this restaurant" Lain explained. Cid was about to question the video's relevance but Lain spoke again before he could interrupt. "Watch carefully" Lain paused. "Now" he added.

Suddenly the restaurants windows lit up sporadically with flashes of light. "Watch outside the right-side wall of the restaurant" Lain directed. Squall, Rinoa and Cid watched for several seconds, wondering when something would happen. They could hear gunfire and windows in the restaurant continued the burst outwards randomly. Suddenly Zell and Seifer appeared from around the corner of the restaurant, running as fast as they could towards what could only be assumed was the cars.

"Where are the others?" Squall asked.

"We don't know sir" Lain admitted. "Only Captain Dincht and Private Almasy appear on the video. We don't even know if the others survived the initial attack".

The group continued to watch the screen. Suddenly the screen flickered and returned to its normal view. "What was that?" Squall asked. Before Lain could answer, the view on screen suddenly took off into the air. Licks of flame flew out and around from behind the cameras view. The perspective on-screen rotated in mid and landed upside down on the ground. Despite the obvious decrease in the quality of the picture, the group could see that the car had landed at around the same angle, facing the diner, the view now being upside down. They could also make out Seifer dragging Zell to his feet, and the two running back the way they came behind the restaurant. The screen went black.

"Shortly after this the feed died" Lain informed the group. "We know from topographical charts that there is a hill behind the restaurant leading down to the village of Pelin" Lain explained. "We assume they headed down this hill" Lain paused and grinned slightly. "I can't imagine them waiting around to get shot". He paused, then regained his serious tone. "But the hill is of a very steep gradient. There's no guarantees they would make it down to the village without injury". Squall nodded again. "We're concentrating on what we think Captain Dincht and Private Almasy would do, as we can't be sure of Captain's Kinneas and Tilmitt's situation, nor Instructor Major Trepe or Trainee Tarik".

Squall thought for a second before speaking. "Get Nida to the hanger" he said. Lain nodded and another SeeD in the background picked up what looked like a radio microphone and began speaking over the loud speaker throughout Garden. "I'm going to get them" Squall added.

He turned to leave, as did Rinoa and Cid, but all stopped when they heard Lain's voice. "Squall" he said quickly. Squall turned and faced Lain. "They're unarmed. All of them" Lain finished, concern in his tone.

"They are?" Cid asked. Lain nodded a 'yes'.

"They're totally defenseless" Rinoa said. "We disposed of Guardian Forces because of the side-effects" she added, as if everyone in the room was unaware of the fact. The truth was that her words were some kind of automatic reaction to the situation.

"And not even Zell's martial arts skills will be able to help against the range of that machine gun" Lain added.

Squall looked at the group quickly, then turned, walking two times as fast as he had been before. The doors to the room separated, shooting sideward, and he disappeared out into the corridor, both Cid and Rinoa following.

As Squall, Cid and Rinoa headed towards the hanger, they were joined by a Weapons Specialist SeeD. He seemed to just blend into the group from nowhere. He began to speak to Squall. "Sir, we're outfitting you with one of our new B-MAW assault rifles".

Squall quickly cut in. "I like Griever" he said flatly.

"Of course you do sir" the Weapons Specialist agreed. "But our hand-to-hand weapons are proving more and more ineffective as the rest of the world continues to move towards these longer ranged weapons" he explained. "I appreciate that your Gunblade fires larger rounds than our assault rifle but the rate of fire and clip size pale in comparison to what you may come up against out there". Squall looked unimpressed. "Sir, for sake of those out there in danger, please take the rifle with you as well, even if you intend on using Griever regardless". Squall still seemed undecided. "It may improve your friends chances of survival" the Weapons Specialist added.

"Very well" Squall finally gave in. "I might give it a try".

"Thank you sir" the Weapons Specialist said gleefully. "The rifle is aboard the Ragnarok, awaiting your arrival".

As Squall entered the hanger, he spotted Nida waiting for him at the access ramp to the Ragnarok. He also saw Edea stood next to the pilot.

"Nida" said Cid as himself, Squall and Rinoa neared the pair. "Go and start her up".

"Sir" Nida nodded, and jogged up the access ramp and into the ship.

Edea stepped forward to Squall. She lifted her arms and rested her hands on his shoulders. With her eyes looking directly into Squall's, she began to speak. "I know they're all grown up" she began with a smile. The Ragnarok's engines could be heard in the back ground starting up. "But you bring my children home safe". Her smile dissolved to an expression of true fear.

Squall nodded. Edea smiled at him again and took her hands off his shoulders, walking past him to stand next to Cid. Squall walked up the ramp into the Ragnarok and turned at the top to face the group.

"Be careful" Rinoa shouted seriously at him over the volume of the ship's engines. Squall nodded and watched as Edea, Cid and Rinoa moved away to a safe distance. The three watched as the hanger door slid upwards, opening out into the quiet night. The entrance ramp on the Ragnarok retracted into the ship and the hydraulic door slowly closed, the ship lifting off before it had sealed shut. Squall kept his gaze fixed on the three stood below until he was completely out of view as the door closed. The ship slowly sidled out of the hanger, hovering fifteen feet above the floor. Once clear of the hanger doors, it rotated ninety degrees to its left and began to move away from Garden. The hanger door slid back down and closed, shutting the departing Ragnarok out of view.

* * * *

"Ouch" said Zell loudly as he landed at the bottom of the steep hill.

"Agreed" Irvine stated while beating the dust out of his long coat. The group had watched Zell roll down the hill, heavily at that. He'd looked about as graceful as the rest of them, in fact.

"Where's Seifer?" asked Quistis, looking back up the hill to try and spot him. The rest of the group did likewise, but the darkness obscured their view.

"Hey" said Nevaeh, raising her hand and pointing to somewhere up the hill. "That's him, right?". She didn't sound too certain.

Upon further inspection, Zell recognized the grey coat. "Yeah, it is".

Within half-a-minute Seifer slid to the bottom, with a little more dignity than the rest of the group. But not much. He got up, dusted himself off as best he could and looked to Irvine. "What now, Cowboy?" he asked.

"Don't look at me" Irvine said, raising his hands. "I came up with the whole hill thing. Its someone else's turn now".

"Right" said Seifer, sounding slightly annoyed.

"This is Pelin, right?" said Quistis. "There has to be some where we can go that we can contact Garden from".

"I guess" said Zell.

"Well whatever the case, we should get away from here" said Quistis. "Its probably not gonna take the gunman long to work out where we've gone".

"I'll go along with that" Nevaeh chipped in. The rest of the group nodded.

They looked around their surroundings. They seemed to be behind a large building. Quistis lead the way round one side of it and towards the front. They came out onto a small street, which was lined by tall buildings on either side. To their left was a dead end, but to their right seemed to be another road. They turned right and headed up the street towards the road at the end, observing that all the lights in the buildings where off. The buildings were either office blocks or the people who lived in them hadn't heard the gunfire from up the hill and continued to sleep. On closer inspection of one of the building's doors, Quistis found that they were all part of an office complex of some business by way of a name plate. Name plates with the same name and a number were fixed to each of the other buildings doors, and confirmed that they were part of the same complex.

As they neared the end of the road the team slowed and leaned up close to one of the buildings walls. Quistis, who was still at the head of the group, cautiously poked her head out to look both ways down the street. She drew back to safety behind the wall of the building and looked at the group. "Its clear" she said. "There's not a soul there".

The group relaxed, evident in the immediate change in their posture. They walked out into the street and looked around. This street seemed to look much like the one they had just left. Buildings of a similar style lined each side of the road. It appeared, that Pelin had a somewhat growing industry. The whole area seemed to incorporate nothing but offices. At least as far as the SeeDs could see.

If they were to turn right, it seemed they would head out of the village and back up the hill towards the restaurant via a winding road. Zell noticed it first. "Couldn't we have just come down that way?" he asked the group.

"It was kind of a _heat of the moment_ thing Zell" Irvine answered, shrugging.

"_Heat of the moment _doesn't stop my back hurting" Zell retorted under his breath.

"Besides" Irvine continued, unaware of Zell's comment. "It was quicker down the hill, and that gunman wouldn't have thought twice about following us down the road".

When he was right, he was right, thought Zell. While on the subject of the gunman, it also occurred to him that he may not give up just because they jumped down a hill. "You do all realise he's probably on his way down here to find us, don't you?" Zell said to the whole group.

"My god, you're right" Seifer said sarcastically. Zell merely frowned at him. "We can't go back up the hill, so I say we head further into town" Seifer suggested. "Carry on looking for a way to contact Garden".

"Agreed" Quistis concurred.

Once again, the group followed Quistis as she headed away from the edge of the village and further into the town. As they continued walking, the group paired off, Selphie with Irvine, Nevaeh with Zell, and Seifer with Quistis.

"I don't suppose anyone's coming to get us" said Selphie to Irvine as she walked alongside him, hugging his arm.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up" Irvine replied.

"That's what I thought" Selphie sighed.

"As far as they know, we're all just out for a meal" Irvine reasoned.

Zell was looking somewhat confused as he looked at the buildings they were passing. He knew they were heading further into the village, but all the buildings still seemed to be of the same style. Utilitarian and ugly. "Are we actually moving?" he asked Nevaeh.

"What?" said Nevaeh, baffled by his statement. The answer was obvious. At least she thought it was.

"All the buildings are the same" said Zell. Nevaeh was still confused. "The word _village,_ suggests to me small, rural and friendly" he explained. "This place, these buildings, are none of those".

He had a point. Nevaeh also observed that the buildings were very... She wouldn't use the word ugly. That wasn't right. They were offices after all. They weren't meant to be pretty. The buildings were bland. That's what they were, bland. In any case, Zell was right. The scenery wasn't really changing. "Maybe this is just the outskirts of the village" Nevaeh attempted an explanation. "I mean, if this place is developing then all the business-type buildings are gonna be on the outside, aren't they?".

"Hmm" Zell mumbled. "I suppose so".

Up at the front of the group, Seifer and Quistis continued to lead the rest into the village. They both maintained more caution than their friends behind them. Well, Quistis' friends, anyway.

"I've decided that I can handle being shot at on missions" Seifer began. "You know, when its my job". Quistis wasn't sure where he was heading with this. She was amazed that he'd started a conversation at all in the first place. "But when I'm meant to be relaxing, I'm particularly offended by it".

"You don't mind being shot at while on missions?" Quistis said. She almost sounded annoyed. "Speak for yourself".

Seifer mentally kicked himself. In retrospect, telling someone who had just been shot and almost died what he had just told Quistis was probably the wrong thing to do. "Sorry" he said quietly. He found it so hard to force the word out that he only managed to say it quietly.

"What was that?" asked Quistis, a slight smile of satisfaction raising the right side of her mouth.

"You heard me" Seifer said, half-wishing he'd never said it.

"I just wanted to make sure I wasn't hearing things" Quistis said. "And its okay" she added.

The two fell silent. While Quistis seemed unbothered, the quiet made Seifer feel uneasy. The fact that it did make him feel uneasy in turn made him feel more uneasy. Idle chit-chat never used to be his thing. He searched desperately in his head for something to talk about. "You think the Garden will send someone for us?" Seifer asked. Quistis was about to answer but Seifer carried on. "I mean, if we don't contact them. It just occurred to me that Rinoa is gonna be expecting us back".

"Maybe" said Quistis. "But she's got a pretty vivid imagination" she explained. "She might just think we got a hotel room or something if we don't come back tonight" Quistis added sarcastically.

"That would be useful at the moment" said Seifer. Quistis frowned at him and he closed his eyes shut tight momentarily. He'd realised a moment too late how that sounded. It wasn't meant to sound provocative, but he could see how Quistis could see it as that. "To hide out in, y'know" he added quickly. Quistis' frown lowered in intensity a little. "And most hotel rooms have phones in them. Just thought _that_ would be useful" Seifer carried on, hoping he could explain this away.

Quistis frown seemed to die all together. "I suppose you're right" she said. She smiled at him. "Haven't seen you get your feathers all ruffled like that in a while" she added. She seemed to find him rather amusing.

"Yeah, well" Seifer began. "I can see how that could have sounded weird" he explained. "And I know you have a temper" he said, waiting for Quistis angry reaction. But it never came.

"Maybe I do" said Quistis. She sounded slightly absent, like she was thinking about something. "You don't think people notice do you?" she asked. "Does it make me unapproachable?". She seemed bothered by the thought of it.

"Nope" Seifer answered. "Its kinda sexy" he said without thinking. Quistis eyes widened and her left eyebrow arched at the comment. That was twice in a row that he hadn't caught his tongue. It must be the drink, Seifer reasoned with himself. His mind worked overtime formulating an excuse. "At least that's what the Trepies say" he added. His tone was cool, but Quistis still seemed unsure about the comment.

"Really?" she asked, her tone inquisitive, her eyebrow still arched.

"Yep" Seifer carried on. "And not just the guys either" he said. "Some of the girls in that little fan club of yours think the same".

"Excuse me?" said Quistis loudly. She was obviously absolutely shocked.

"Oh yeah" said Seifer. He didn't know if it was true, but it was working far too well anyway. "We've got some _naughty_ girls at Balamb Garden" he lied. Hell, there had to be at least one or two, he thought. It seemed to be in fashion these days.

"I can't believe it" said Quistis, seemingly in shock over the accusations.

"Well don't go mouthing off about it, in any case" said Seifer. "Its just what I've heard".

"Heard from who?" asked Quistis.

"I don't know who they were" said Seifer. "I try to converse with the students at that place as little as possible, especially your groupies" he explained. "I just overheard it as I passed". Seifer grinned suddenly. "Why are you so interested anyway?" he asked Quistis. "Got _bad_ thoughts in your head?".

"Of course not" said Quistis, outraged by the mere suggestion. Seifer smiled, content that he'd managed to ruffle _her _feathers. That'll teach her for trying to beat me at my own game, he thought.

"In any case" Quistis began, intending to steer the conversation away from the particular topic at hand. She could tell when Seifer was about to get on a roll. "I'll have to have words with Rinoa when we all get back".

"You and me both" said Seifer. "The night was gonna be bad enough before someone tried to kill us".

"Is my company really that bad?" asked Quistis.

"No" said Seifer. "But you know how it is with us" Quistis nodded knowingly. The brief time that they had gotten along after her accident seemed to be a thing of the past now. It must have been Seifer just feeling guilty, she thought. But even that seemed out of character. In any case, they were back at each others throats. "Its like trying to put out a fire with gasoline" Seifer added.

"I get the picture" Quistis said. "I should have known something was up at the start of this _mission_". Quistis started on a new subject.

"What do you mean?" Seifer asked.

"Well, do you really think Squall would team us up on a mission when he knows what we're like around each other?" Quistis asked.

Before she received an answer, a thunderously loud bang violated the quiet village, and before she knew it Seifer had dived into her and pushed down an alleyway between two of the buildings. Zell and Nevaeh took cover in similar fashion, as did Irvine and Selphie. The gap between the couples had grown so large though, that none of them were in the same alleyway. A building separated each of the couples. The earlier bang could now clearly be identified as a sub-machine gun, as it continued to spew its contents against the walls of the buildings. Eventually the group heard it joined by another, then another. However many there were, one was more than they can handle.

"Maybe he knew I'd put my ass on the line like an idiot" said Seifer, clutching the top of his left arm. The sleeve of his grey coat was slowly turning a dark shade of crimson.

"Oh my gods" said Quistis. She attempted to move his hand to inspect the wound, but Seifer held it tightly round his arm.

"Its nothing" he said. "Just a flesh wound" he reaffirmed his words. He angled his head backwards and out into the street without leaning out of cover. "ZELL" he yelled, looking for a response.

"YEAH" Seifer heard Zell shout back.

"YOU OKAY?" Seifer asked.

"WE'RE FINE" Zell confirmed. The guns continued to fire. One or two of them stopped momentarily to load fresh magazines, but there was sustained fire on the buildings regardless. "BUT IT'S JUST ME AND NEVAEH HERE".

"COWBOY" Seifer shouted. He heard no response. "HEY, COWBOY" he shouted again. His words elicited no reaction.

Zell, listening in decided to try himself. "YO, IRVINE" he shouted.

"WHAT?" Irvine shouted back.

"YOU TWO ALRIGHT?" Zell yelled.

"YEAH" Irvine called back.

"THEY'RE FINE" Zell shouted ahead to Seifer.

Seifer leant back against the wall and winced as he accidentally shifted his weight onto his injured arm. "So what now?" he asked Quistis.

"I" she faltered. "I don't know" she admitted. "I'd say that there's more out there than we can handle".

"I think you're right" Seifer agreed. He sat around listening to the gunfire. "Look, I'm gonna make a run for it" he said. Quistis glared at him. "I think I can probably make it across the street and to cover on that side before they realise what's going on. It might give the rest you some time to get out of here".

"You'll never make it" Quistis said. Seifer looked at her, then began to push himself up onto his feet using only his right arm and the wall. Quistis stood up with him. "Seifer, no" she said sternly. "I'm ordering you, as a superior ranking SeeD, you are not to do this".

Quistis sounded stern but it didn't seem to change Seifer's plans. "You come up with a better idea".

"We wait for them to run out of ammo" said Quistis simply.

"For all you know they could have some kind of armoured support out there, and the moment we walk out we all get obliterated" Seifer argued. "At least this way I can get a look and shout over to you when I get to the other side".

"IF you survive" Quistis said angrily. "Which you won't".

"Listen" Seifer began. He stopped short as more shots rang out. But these shots sounded different, and with every one of these shots one of the clattering machine guns ceased to fire. Eventually, the sound of gunfire dissipated from the night air altogether. Seifer looked at Quistis, a puzzled look on his face. Quistis returned a similar glance.

"ZELL" Seifer called out. "DID YOU DO THAT?" he asked.

"UH" Zell began. "NO" he answered.

"COWBOY?" Seifer called back.

With the sound of gunfire now gone, Irvine could here Seifer perfectly. "WASN'T US" he shouted. He sounded as confused as the rest of the group.

Seifer cautiously peeped his head out into the street and looked around. The rest of his body slowly followed, a shocked expression adorning his features. "Fuck me" he said simply.

"I'll pass, if its all the same" said Zell. Seifer looked over to see Zell emerging from the alleyway, taking in the scene in disbelief.

The rest of the group walked out into the street. The scene they were met with was horrific and magnificent all at the same time. Twelve gunman lay dead on the street, their weapons at their sides. Under closer scrutiny from Seifer, he noted that every one of them had been shot in the head.

Suddenly the group heard someone clambering down the fire exit to one of the buildings across the street. Seifer bent down and scooped up one of the fallen men's guns with his good arm. He pointed it towards the alleyway in which the fire exit was situated. "Who's there?" he asked authoritatively. He heard the persons heavy boots hit the ground as whoever it was jumped the rest of the way down from the fire exit. What was now a silhouette turned and walked towards the group. "Who's" Seifer asked angrily. "There" he finished. The figure walked out into the street, illuminated by the moon.

"Point that thing somewhere else will you?" Squall said, a large rifle slung over his shoulder. He was smiling at the group. He looked pleased with himself. Seifer lowered the gun, and eventually threw it on the floor.

"Boy are we glad to see you" said Zell, smiling at his friend.

"You did all this?" asked Irvine. Squall nodded.

"How?" asked Seifer. "Your gunblade holds six rounds" he stated.

Squall pulled the rifle off of his shoulder and and held out in front of him. "This" he said. "Didn't like the idea of it at first but it seems to be pretty effective". He looked at it again, rotating it in his hand, checking the weapon out from multiple angles. "The scope and the nightvision are particularly cool" he added with a grin, raising his eyebrows quickly.

"You're uh" Irvine stuttered. "You're a good shot". Squall smiled again.

"How did you get here?" asked Selphie.

"Nida flew me in on the Ragnarok" Squall explained. "Dropped me off on the roof of a building on the other side of town" he continued. "From there, I just followed the gunfire and made my across the roofs".

The group stood silent, still in complete awe of the scene surrounding them. All except one. "Can we go home now?" asked Nevaeh.

"Yeah" said Selphie.

Squall pulled a radio out of the pocket on his jacket, pushed and held in a button on the side and held it up to his mouth. "Nida, can you come get us?" Squall spoke into the radio. "We're on the North-West edge of town. I'll set a flare for you". Squall let go of the button.

The radio emitted the crackling sound of static for a second before a voice rang out. "I'll be there in a few minutes" Nida's voice said through the radio.

* * *

Author's Note: - How was that one? A little more action again but not too much. I suppose that one concentrated on Seifer and Quistis. In any case, I feel like I should explain the whole 'Squall using a rifle' thing. I'll probably get lynched for this, but I find out really hard to write about people fighting with hand to hand weapons against characters with guns. Its something that occurred in the games but you can't really describe action sequences and fight scenes in a fiction with the characters forming an orderly queue and taking turns at attacking each other. I also find it hard to write about magic-type stuff too much so that may not be so evident except with one or two characters, as you could probably tell from the fact that I've gotten rid of GF's. So, HB may see the SeeDs picking up more 'real-world' weapons with which to fight. The original weapons will still be in there, but will probably be secondary to these guns. I'm probably gonna lose a lot of fans over this decision but I find it hard to write about magic and the whole hand2hand-gun thing, and its also always been the way I envisioned the story from the start.

In any case, I'd really appreciate any comments on this chapter, and also my decision about weaponry. Tell me what you think about the shift towards guns.

Till next time, c ya!


	11. Welcome Back

**Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds**

**Chapter 11 - Welcome Back...**

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

**I'm all busted up,**

**Broken bones and nasty cuts,**

**Accidents will happen,**

**But this time I can't get up,**

**She comes to check on me,**

**Making sure I'm on my knees,**

**After all she's the one,**

**Who put me in this state.**

**Taken from Green Day - Pulling Teeth**

* * *

"Seifer, I want you to go straight to the infirmary to get that checked out" said Squall. The returning SeeDs were walking away from the hanger towards the main lobby and fountain of Balamb Garden.

"Its nothing" Seifer began.

"I want you to go to the infirmary" said Squall again. He sounded more definite in his words this time.

"Yes _Dad_" Seifer replied mockingly.

As the group reached the fountain and began to turn their separate ways, Squall shouted after them all. "And I want you all in the Intelligence Centre in two hours for a debrief". Muttered acknowledgements emanated from the group.

As the rest of the group headed to wherever it was they were going, Seifer made his way towards the infirmary. He figured he might as well do what he was told. It wasn't really because he wanted to. It was merely because he couldn't be bothered to deal with the nagging he would get if he didn't.

He laughed quietly to himself as a sudden realization hit him. Despite not going on a mission, not a real one at least, he still had to attend a debrief upon his return. Nothing seemed to go off without a hitch in this place. Evident from the fact that there hadn't been a Garden Festival for the last two years. The doors to the infirmary parted as Seifer neared them and he walked through, past the cubicles and into Doctor Kadowaki's office.

The doctor looked up and sighed. He had been gone from the Garden for nearly a year and seeing Seifer now was still too often for Kadowaki's liking. All of his previous trips to her infirmary of years gone by still hadn't worn off yet. "Need I ask what the problem is here?" Kadowaki questioned, eyeing up the red stained sleeve of his long coat.

Seifer looked down at his arm. He'd bandaged it up on the trip back to Garden, so he no longer clutched it. He had to admit that it still hurt like hell though. "I, uh, got a bit shot up" he replied, his gaze returning to the Doctor.

"Okay" the Doctor said in a slightly labored manner. "Take off the coat and we'll get started".

Seifer followed the Doctor through to one of the cubicles. He removed the coat with a little difficulty when he had to slide it off of his left arm, and threw it over one of the chairs in the room. He sat down on the gurney in the center of the room and waited for the questions to start.

Doctor Kadowaki took a quick look at his arm, then started to unravel the crude bandaging that currently adorned the wound. "This might hurt a little when it finally comes off" she informed him. As she continued to unravel the bandage, Seifer noticed her frown. "You didn't listen in First Aid did you?" Kadowaki asked. She looked up at him and gave him warm but somehow disapproving smile.

"Didn't count on getting shot in the arm too many times" Seifer retorted. "Especially at dinner" he added.

"You were out at a dinner?" Kadowaki asked. "You got shot at a restaurant?" she asked a second question. She sounded confused. "I heard you could be a handful, but I didn't think you could drive a waiter to that".

"Very funny" said Seifer, sounding slightly annoyed. "But for once I didn't do anything".

"Oh?" Kadowaki beckoned him to continue.

"Some barman just came at us with a machine gun" Seifer began to explain.

"Us?" Kadowaki cut in quickly.

"Oh, yeah" said Seifer. "Me, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie, Zell and that new chick he's got some kind of crush on" Seifer answered. "I forget her name".

"Miss Tarik, I think is the girl you'll find you're talking about" Kadowaki informed Seifer. "And I didn't know you were such good friends with them" she said.

"I'm not" he said. Kadowaki believed him. "It was originally meant to be just me and Quistis".

"Really?" said Kadowaki. Seifer could tell from her tone that she was making assumptions.

"It wasn't like that" he quickly explained. "Rinoa sent us on a fake mission which just turned out to be her attempt at match-making".

"I see" said Kadowaki.

"You don't seem surprised" Seifer said. He winced as Kadowaki finally finished untying the last knot on the bandage on his arm. It had one of what seemed like a thousand.

"That's because I'm not" the Doctor said simply. Seifer frowned, slightly confused at her reaction. "Looks like the Ragnarok's going to need a new supply of bandages though" she mentioned, tossing the blood soaked rags into a bin at the side of the room. She bent down to Seifer's arm to take a closer look. "It doesn't look too bad" she said. "It'll need some stitches though".

Kadowaki turned around and walked to some cupboards at the side of the room. She opened one and pulled out some things Seifer couldn't see. She closed the cupboard and headed back across the room toward. "I don't suppose you minded Rinoa setting it all up anyway" she said while threading some stitching through a needle.

"Huh?" Seifer grunted. He was taken by surprise by the question.

"You heard me" Kadowaki smiled.

"I heard you" Seifer began. "I just didn't expect you to be so far from the pulse, being a doctor and all". Kadowaki took time out to chuckle at the young man's pun. "I was there for the food" Seifer added.

"Uh-huh" Kadowaki absently agreed.

"Really" Seifer said loudly.

"No, no" Kadowaki began. Her tone was mocking. "I believe you".

"No you don't" said Seifer. "Nobody lies better than me so I can sure as hell tell when someone's sending some my way".

"You keep on believing that dear" Kadowaki said. Now she sounded condescending.

"You're a doctor" said Seifer. "You're supposed to keep my blood pressure down".

Kadowaki chuckled again. "I'm also supposed to find out what's wrong with people" she said.

"I'll tell you what's wrong with me" Seifer began. He sounded somewhat irate. "I've got an arm with huge-ass chunk missing out of it and a doctor more interested in giving me an aneurysm than patching me up". He was almost shouting now.

"Done" Kadowaki said through a chuckle.

"Hey, what?" Seifer asked confused. Kadowaki pointed to his arm. His wound was stitched up and the bleeding had ceased. "How?" he blurted. "When?" he choked out.

"While you were getting all riled up" Kadowaki explained, sticking a dressing over the stitches. "I was only doing it to take your mind off your arm".

"Oh" Seifer laughed. Kadowaki instantly picked up on the nervousness in his tone.

Seifer stood up and picked up his coat. "Hope this washes up well" he said.

"Why not just get rid of the tatty old thing?" Kadowaki asked.

"This?" Seifer said, feigning surprise. "This has sentimental value" he justified with a smirk, fully aware that associating himself with sentimentality would be a complete joke to the Doctor. He made his way out of the cubicle and turned toward the exit of the infirmary.

"I see" Kadowaki said with a roll of her eyes. She followed him out of the cubicle and called after him. "I wouldn't think I have to go through this with you by now, but make sure-".

Seifer spun round. "It's kept clean, the dressing is changed and I don't do any activities which could stretch the stitching" Seifer finished for her with a smirk. "Doc, I could do your job myself by now" he added.

"Yeah, I'll bet" Kadowaki sighed as she watched Seifer leave. "I'll see you next time" she muttered to herself, turning and heading back to her office.

* * * *

"Thank you all for coming" Lain addressed the people sat round the table. "You're all aware of what happened tonight, but I'm pretty sure you're wondering why it happened".

"Cut the crap Lain" Seifer said loudly. "Why don't you just tell us?"

Lain shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. "Very well" he said. He took a deep breath before he spoke again. "We don't know".

"What?" asked Seifer flatly.

"We don't know" Lain repeated. "There's never any physical clues as to the attackers identities, they never have any uniforms, and so far". Lain paused and smirked. "So far none of them have been left alive to question".

"So you're saying this is our fault" Seifer said. It was obvious he was angry. "Well excuse me for not letting them shoot me" Seifer paused. "But wait, I did" he added sarcastically.

"Hmm, yes" Lain began. "I'd think twice about _letting _them do that again" he finished sarcastically.

Squall noticed the anger contorting Seifer's face. "Lain, why don't you tell us all what you do know" Squall said, hoping he'd prevented further arguing.

"Alright" said Lain. "Due to outside intelligence we know that this group, whoever they may be, are based out of the Galbadian desert".

"Outside intelligence?" Seifer said confusedly. "Who's outside intelligence?" he asked. "For all we know it could be the terrorists feeding you bullshit".

"I don't think so" said Lain.

"Why not?" asked Seifer, once again angered.

The people round the table turned as they heard the door to the Intelligence Centre open. There stood an older man with long dark hair, a streak of gray running through it. His hair was tied into a pony tail at the back. "Because it was my governments intelligence" the man said.

"Sir Laguna" Selphie said slowly. "Err, President Loire, I mean".

Laguna frowned and laughed. "Hey kids" he said with a smile. He walked into the room and sat down at the table.

"The EIA, that's the Esthar Intelligence Agency" Lain explained. "Has discovered that the root of our assailants is buried underneath the Galbadian desert deep in the south, way away from the cities and towns".

"Did you just happen to come across this?" Quistis asked Laguna.

"We've kept a constant eye Galbadia since the last Sorceress incident" Laguna said. "If something is gonna happen, we'd prefer to know beforehand this time".

"Does President Caraway know about this?" asked Quistis.

"He soon will" said Laguna. "We don't think the Galbadian government is pulling their strings but we're pretty sure they're not aware of the groups presence within their borders".

"If we know exactly where they are and you've informed Galbadia, then surely that's the end of the problem" Zell spoke for the first time since he entered the room. "They'll just drop some heavy ordinance on it right?"

"I'm afraid not" said Lain. The group around the table sighed. "The EIA managed to locate the general region in which the group is based, but we don't know exactly where" he explained. "Simply dropping heavy ordinance and hoping it got them would be assuming too much".

"So what now?" asked Nida, who sat next to Zell.

"That's something that myself and Commander Leonhart will have to discuss once Esthar gets a response from Galbadia" Lain answered.

"That's more of an '_If'_, actually" Laguna said. "We're still not bosom buddies or anything".

"Nonetheless" Squall said. "For now we wait, and see if Esthar receives any response".

"What do we do in the meantime?" asked Nevaeh.

"Get some rest" answered Squall. "You probably need it" said Squall. He looked at the people sat around the table. "You damn sure look like you do" he added with a smirk.

"I'm all for that" Selphie said happily.

"Why is it always my homeland that has to be the source of every evil?" said Irvine, slightly embarrassed.

Everyone in the room stood up. Those that had went to the restaurant all headed towards the door and left the room. Only Squall, Lain, Nida and Laguna remained in the Intelligence Centre. They repositioned themselves around the table and sat down again. "I don't envy the headaches they'll have in the morning" said Nida.

"Me neither" Laguna laughed. "This room stinks of alcohol".

"Do you think Galbadia will respond?" Squall asked Laguna.

"It's hard to say" he explained. "Caraway doesn't really like me too much".

* * *

Author's Note: - Short one, I know, but things are starting to happen, huh? Well, maybe anyway. Can't stand the suspense? Well hopefully you won't have to wait much longer. This is hopefully where the story begins to heat up. Maybe more action, less talky-talk. I think everyone knows the characters well enough. Other than Lain and Laguna of course. Most people will know what Laguna is like from playing the game and if you don't, I'm sure you'll pick up his particular demeanor pretty quickly over the next one or two chapters. As far as Lain goes, well you'll probably learn more about him later.

Once again, please review. I really do enjoy hearing everyone's comments.

C ya...


	12. At Opposite Ends Of A Spectrum

****

Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 12 - At Opposite Ends Of A Spectrum

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

**I can't get to sleep,**

**I think about the implications,**

**Of diving in too deep,**

**And possibly the complications.**

**Especially at night,**

**I worry over situations,**

**I know I'll be alright,**

**It's just overkill.**

**Taken from Colin Hay - Overkill**

* * *

Despite the fact that she'd been told to get some rest, Quistis couldn't sleep. There was something she had to do. As much as she felt she would suffer for it, she was going to thank Seifer. Currently heading down the corridor to his dorm, she was still debating whether it was worth going through with it. He wouldn't care if she said thank you or if she didn't, would he? But not saying sorry would be rude. Besides, she was there now.

Quistis stood outside the door to Seifer's room. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. She listened hard but couldn't hear anything inside. She knocked again, this time a little harder. She heard a loud thud from inside, then footsteps towards the door. Eventually the door opened. Seifer stood on the other side, dressed in his pants and blue vest. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked, looking only half-awake.

"Something like that" replied Quistis. She stood in silence, waiting to be asked in by Seifer. Just when she thought he wasn't going to, Seifer turned around and walked back into his room.

"You might as well come in" he said.

Quistis followed him in and looked around herself. His room didn't look much different from the generic setup of a new SeeD's room. Though that wasn't exactly surprising. It's not like he had had the time to decorate the place a little more to his tastes since he'd arrived back at Garden. Quistis didn't suspect he had a love of interior design anyway. The room was adequately functional, and that seemed to fit Seifer. "So" Seifer said, sitting down on his bed. "Anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah, sort of" Quistis answered.

"Would have to be really, wouldn't it?" Seifer said.

"What do you mean?" Quistis asked.

"Well, out of all the people you know here" Seifer explained. "I'd least expect you to be knocking at my door in the early hours of the morning".

"I see" Quistis said, briefly looking away. She turned back to him. "Well like you said, there is something in particular".

"Go on" Seifer urged.

"I" Quistis began. She faltered for a moment.

"Yes?" Seifer urged again.

"I wanted" Quistis faltered once more. This was more difficult than she had imagined it would be.

"Look, am I gonna have to coax this out of you one word at a time, 'cos I really am quite tired" Seifer asked sarcastically.

"This isn't easy" Quistis snapped.

"Ooh, fiery" Seifer said with an infuriating grin. "So that's how you get when you're drunk".

"Be quiet will you?" said Quistis. "And I'm not drunk" she added. Seifer nodded in that 'I believe you' kind of way. "I'm trying to say thank you for what you did today".

"I see" said Seifer. He seemed slightly shocked. "You're welcome, but I'm not so sure what it is I'm being thanked for". Seifer stood up and walked past Quistis towards a small space at the side of his room. It would have resembled a kitchen if it wasn't so small. However, it did have a couple cupboards, a sink and a small refrigerator. Seifer bent down and opened the fridge, picking out a can of some type of soda. He turned to face Quistis and lifted the can up. "Want one?" he asked.

"No" Quistis answered, slightly annoyed at the fact that Seifer didn't seem to be taking her too seriously. "Thank you" she was sure to add.

"Fair enough" said Seifer, closing the fridge and cracking open the can. "To what act of extreme heroism do I owe this unique gesture?" Seifer asked.

"I'd be grateful if you took this a little more seriously" said Quistis.

"Okay, okay" Seifer conceded. "But in all honesty, what did I do today?"

"I think you know, really" said Quistis.

"I do, huh?" asked Seifer. "Why don't you go ahead and explain it for my benefit anyway" he instructed.

"When you pushed me out of the way when we were attacked tonight" Quistis explained. "You took that bullet for me".

"I was just trying to get into cover" Seifer explained. "You just happened to be in the way" he added with a smirk.

"Right" said Quistis. She drew the word out, making it obvious that she didn't believe Seifer. "So you dived in front of me, effectively shielding me when you had just as much opportunity to dive behind me instead?"

Seifer thought for a moment. Eventually he gave in. "Alright, so I saw it coming" he said. "I didn't want you to get hurt".

"Oh?" said Quistis. "And why is that?" she asked with a grin, stepping slightly closer to Seifer.

Seifer noticed a change in her attitude. He wondered if she were still under the influence of their earlier indulgences. "You mean a lot to people around here" he explained. "They wouldn't want to see anything happen to you".

"I see" Quistis said, again taking a step closer to Seifer. "Is that all?"

"And, well" Seifer said. "I didn't want to see you get hurt either".

"Why's that?" asked Quistis.

"I dunno" said Seifer. This was all getting a bit too in depth for Seifer's liking. Though he wasn't quite sure how out get out of it.

"Well" Quistis pressured.

Seifer decided to give up trying to get out the situation and just go for broke. "You've always been straight up with me" Seifer explained. "Always been very good to me, even when I didn't deserve it".

"You can say that again" said Quistis.

"Yeah, well" said Seifer. "I guess I like that" he explained. He scratched the back of his head. "And anyway". He dismissed the silence. "It's a SeeD's duty to protect his teammates".

"Well" said Quistis, again moving towards Seifer. She was practically stood on his toes. "It was very brave" she said. Putting her arms around Seifer's neck, she pulled herself up to his ear. "And _I_ like that" she whispered, just before pulling him down into a kiss.

While Quistis closed her eyes, Seifer's shot wide open, his posture tightening up. Momentarily confused and dazed, he eventually worked out what was happening. Hesitating slightly longer than he needed to, he eventually pulled himself away from Quistis. She looked up at him, a confused grin across her features. "That was unexpected" said Seifer. Quistis laughed quietly and leaned forward to kiss him again. Seifer grabbed her shoulders and held her back. Quistis frowned at him, questioning him through the look on her face. "Now I know you're drunk" said Seifer. "You don't really want to be doing this" he said. Trust him to choose now to be a decent person, he thought.

"That's why you think I'm doing this?" asked Quistis.

"No" Seifer answered. "That _is_ why you're doing this".

Quistis looked up and smiled at him. "Trust me" she said quietly. "It's not" she added before pulling him into another kiss.

* * * *

The four sat round the table in the Intelligence Centre, the room only barely lit. While Squall leant his head in his hands, Laguna fidgeted in his chair uneasily. Nida looked briefly from Squall to Laguna, then back to Squall. He frowned, obviously thinking about something. Lain looked at a large red digital clock above an oversized flat-screen at the front of the room. He looked back to the other three men sat round the table. "It looks increasingly unlikely that the good General is going to grace us with his presence" he said. "What do we do if Galbadia doesn't respond?"

"And when do we tell the others?" asked Nida.

"We'll tell them in the morning, when they're more likely to remember it" answered Squall. "But for now, we still wait".

"I told you he didn't like me" Laguna added with a bored sighed. Squall looked up out of his hands to Laguna, frowning sternly. As he opened his mouth to speak, the flat-screen flickered and an image appeared. I man with grey, swept-back hair wearing a military uniform adorned with medals sat looking at the group sat round the table.

"Gentlemen" the grey haired man said. "President Loire" he added.

"Good evening President Caraway" Laguna said, nodding.

"It was, until I was woken up by my secretary" Caraway said. "What's this all about?"

"Well, I assume you've looked at the files I had sent to you" said Laguna. Nida noticed that Laguna had suddenly taken on a far more professional approach to the proceedings.

"I have" Caraway confirmed.

"Then you'll know of the terrorist organization operating out of the south of your country" said Laguna.

"We do now" said Caraway. "I must admit that we weren't aware of this faction before now though".

"Oh?" said Laguna.

"We thank you for notifying us" Caraway said.

"Esthar is always willing to help it's allies" said Laguna.

"I see" said Caraway. He nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me, does Esthar always have it's intelligence monitor all it's allies as well?" he asked sharply. "Or just Galbadia?"

"President Caraway" Laguna began.

"Because it occurs to me that this could be misconstrued as a lack of confidence in those allies" said Caraway.

"Can you honestly say that you haven't got exactly the same programs in operation focused on Esthar?" asked Laguna. Caraway remained silent. "I didn't think so" Laguna said. "Now look Caraway, we can think what we do of each other but the fact remains that this situation must be dealt with immediately"

"I agree" said Caraway. "But I'm caught in a difficult political situation".

"What kind of situation?" asked Squall.

"Ah" said Caraway. "Commander Leonhart speaks" he joked. "I trust you're taking care of my daughter".

"She's fine" said Squall. "What kind of situation?" he repeated.

"Well these terrorists are, in all likelihood, Galbadian citizens" Caraway explained. "And so far their attacks have only been focused on Balamb Garden, even when we look at the Dollet incident if we speak in terms of motivation".

"What's your point?" asked Squall.

"Anti-Garden sentiment is still pretty strong here in Galbadia" Caraway said. "A lot of Galbadian soldiers were either wounded or killed in the last sorceress incident, mostly in battles with Garden" Caraway paused. "There's even pressure on me to close Galbadia Garden and dispose of it".

"But it's still operational" said Nida.

"Yes" said Caraway. He frowned. "I don't believe we've met before".

"President Caraway" said Squall. "This is Balamb Garden's pilot and Senior SeeD, Lieutenant Nida Yahti".

"I see" he said. "It's nice to meet you Lieutenant".

"You too, President Caraway" Nida said.

"As you said, Galbadia Garden is still operational" said Caraway. "But that's only because I've went against public opinion in keeping it so" he explained. "In any case, with Balamb Garden now harbouring my daughter, the new Sorceress, Garden has fallen even more so in the public opinion of Galbadian citizens". Caraway paused. "They hear Sorceress and even now, the alarms still go off".

"So you won't do anything?" asked Lain.

"So many new faces" Caraway smiled.

"Lieutenant Lain Amarta, head of SeeD intelligence" Lain explained.

"Ah" said Caraway. "I'll do what I can" he answered. "But it all depends on how much the Galbadian people find out about this faction" he said. "If the people find out that this particular group is against Garden in anyway, then destroying them could well cause an uprising".

"It sounds as though you're walking a tight-rope over there" said Laguna.

"I hate to admit it" sighed Caraway. "Galbadia is tentatively balanced on the edge of chaos right now, and has been since Sorceress Edea's short reign".

"What do you intend to do?" asked Squall.

"My analysts believe that the largest of the four facilities is the likely headquarters of the group" said Caraway. "Agreed?"

Squall looked to Lain. "It's as good a guess as any" said Lain. "And it's all we have right now".

"Good" said Caraway. "I'll send a covert strike team there" he explained. "With any luck we can capture some of the higher-ups and figure out exactly what is going on".

"Very well" said Squall.

"We'll be in touch" said Caraway. The flat-screen flickered and turned black.

"What are the odds of this all working" Squall asked Lain.

"Going purely on the intelligence we have right now?" asked Lain. "I'd say fifty-fifty". Squall nodded, while Laguna raised his eyebrows and sighed. "And I'm being optimistic" Lain added.

* * *

Author's Note: - Yep. Quistis and Seifer. You all knew it was gonna happen at some point, didn't you? But what will be the ramifications? I tried to convey a sensual, sexy side of Quistis character in this chapter but I have the distinct feeling that I missed completely and ended up with 'Drunk and Clumsy'. Either works. I suppose you just have to play the whole scenario out in your head, and see what you come out with - Sensual and Alluring or Quisty with Beer Goggles!

And like I said, it's heating up! Next chapter will see the morning after the SeeD's eventful night out and the Galbadian task-force's mission!

Oh, and thank you Noacat, 'Masked Reviewer' and noctorro for reviewing the last couple chapters. I wasn't sure if anyone was taking any notice of Historical Bonds anymore. Its taken such a long time just to get to this point! But production on new chapters will speed up soon. I've just finished all my college exams and only have a tiny bit of work to complete, so after that I'm free to work on the story. Expect HB to take on a darker mood in upcoming chapters!

To 'Masked Reviewer' - The weapons changeover might not be quite as drastic as I had made it sound at first. The other weapons will still be in there. Having read a few other fics recently on FF.net, I'm coming to the opinion that keeping the original weapons would be better for the story. We'll see. And you're not supposed to know what is going on yet. That's the idea. All mystery and intrigue. Things may become a little more clear in the next few chapters, but events may not be fully explained until later.

To noctorro - The original character 'Nevaeh' was not really meant to look like Rinoa. But the more I read back through her introduction the more I realise how similar my description makes them sound. Though not mentioned in the story, I like to think of Nevaeh as having a much more East-Asian look than Rinoa. The inspiration for the look of her character came from a Japanese model that a buddy of mine knows. So, I hope that helps if your mental picture of the story and its characters!

C ya...


	13. Sleeping With The Enemy

****

Final Fantasy : Historical Bonds

Chapter 13 - Sleeping With The Enemy

By: Fat Zombie

* * *

**Machine guns pumping,**

**Hearts thumping,**

**Death is all around.**

**People crying for freedom,**

**No one hears the sound.**

**Taken from Silverchair - Pure Massacre**

* * *

The alarm clock's endless buzzing awoke Zell. He rolled over and groaned, punching the clock off the table beside his bed. Nonetheless, the buzzing didn't stop. "Okay, alright" Zell moaned. He rolled out of bed and to his feet. Walking over to the kitchen area of his room, he filled a glass with water and gulped it down. If anything, the sobering events of the end of last night seemed to have helped his hangover. It was practically non-existent, nothing but a few aches and pains in his limbs.

He walked across his room towards the small bathroom at the side when he heard a knock at his door. He turned around and walked towards the door. "Who is it?" he called.

"It's Nevaeh" he heard the girl call back through the door.

"Oh shit" Zell said under his breath, running over to his wardrobe and pulling out a pair of his long shorts. Stepping into the shorts, he quickly pulled on a T-shirt immediately after.

"Hello?" Zell heard Nevaeh call through the door. He hurried over to the door and opened it, smiling casually.

"Hi" Zell said, not noticing his own heavy breathing.

"Uh" Nevaeh frowned. "Hi".

"Hi" Zell said again. "How's it goin'?" he asked.

"Good" Nevaeh replied. "We've been called to a briefing".

"When?" asked Zell.

"We've got about twenty minutes" Nevaeh answered.

"Okay" said Zell. He walked back into his room. "Come on in" he said. Nevaeh stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Make yourself at home" said Zell. He walked to the TV in the corner of the room and turned it on. "I just gotta take a shower, so just watch what you want for a while". He handed the TV remote to Nevaeh and disappeared into the bathroom.

Nevaeh sat down in one of the seats in front of the TV. Idly swapping through the channels, she heard the shower in the bathroom switch on with an electronic hum. Eventually finding something she liked, a cheap TV talk-show, she set the remote down on the arm of the chair. She grinned and slouched into the chair a little.

"Today we're talking about mother's and their daughters who think they are Sorceresses" the host said. Nevaeh scoffed at the notion.

"There's only one of them, I'm afraid girls" Nevaeh said quietly to herself. "And she's right here with us".

One of the girls on the TV was speaking now. "Yeah, that's right I'm a sorceress" she managed eventually. "So you better watch yourself" she added angrily.

"How can you honestly believe that" a woman said. Nevaeh could only assume that the woman was the girl's mother.

"Well Garden is still around, isn't it?" the girl addressed not only her mother, but the entire audience. It emitted several conformations of the girl's statement. "And everyone knows that Garden trains SeeDs, and SeeDs are trained to kill sorceresses" the girl explained.

"But" her mother began.

"No buts" the girl interrupted. "They'll be coming for me one day" the girl announced. "So who you gonna be siding with then?" the girl asked.

"Don't tell me you actually like this rubbish" Nevaeh heard Zell's voice say from behind her.

"No I" Nevaeh quickly turned round but stopped. Zell stood at the back of the room in only a towel wrapped round his bottom half. He held another towel, rubbing his wet hair. Nevaeh sat with her mouth half open, staring at the half naked Zell. After what seemed like forever, she determined the fact that his physique was particularly impressive.

"Nevaeh?" Zell said confusedly. He frowned and grinned.

"Oh, uh" Nevaeh finally blinked. "Sorry I was, umm" Nevaeh paused. "Thinking, about something".

"Oh" said Zell. He frowned again. "Well in that case" he said, walking over to Nevaeh and picking up the remote. He pointed it at the TV and pushed a button. The TV turned off with a click.

He bent down and looked at Nevaeh, putting the remote down on the arm of the chair. In his current position, his wet hair hung down in his face. He almost looked like a different person, Nevaeh noted. Although he did look cute as this other person. She noticed he was staring again, only this time Zell had noticed. "I" she faltered. "Umm" she tried again.

Zell began to laugh. "What's with you this morning?"

"Nothing" Nevaeh replied. "I'm just a little tired".

"Didn't sleep well?" asked Zell.

"Err, no" Nevaeh said. "Not well at all". She faked a yawn.

"You should've came to me" Zell said, walking towards his wardrobe.

"Excuse me?" asked Nevaeh. The comment sounded somewhat suggestive. To Nevaeh, at least.

"I have the greatest way to get to sleep" said Zell. "Get a hair-dryer, rig it up next to a fan and put all of this across the other side of room" he explained.

"You own a hair-dryer?" Nevaeh asked, choking back a laugh.

"You see this here?" Zell asked, grabbing hold of his fringe. "How do you think I get this to stand up?"

"Okay" said Nevaeh. "Your secret's safe with me" she added with a grin.

"Anyway, rig all that up, let blow that warm air over you and you be asleep in no time" said Zell.

"Well why not just rig the hair-dryer up next to the bed?" Nevaeh asked.

"The hair-dryer's too loud" said Zell. "Plus the stream of air is too strong". Nevaeh frowned at him. "Trust me" Zell added.

"Okay" said Nevaeh, still trying not to laugh.

"Now, err, could you turn around while I get dressed?" Zell asked.

"Oh, yeah" said Nevaeh, swiveling away from Zell. "Sorry" she added.

* * * *

The were birds singing. Only they weren't singing. It was more of an annoying 'squawk'. She could hear the sea, also. Quistis could also hear the sea. She opened her eyes slowly. The light that met her was possibly the most horrid thing she had been subjected to in a long time. Only moments later she remembered the attack last night and realised how stupid being scared of the sun was. She opened her eyes properly, and looked around herself. She bolted upright as she took in the room. This wasn't her room. This wasn't her bed. Quistis ran through in her mind again. She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in her bed, and she wasn't wearing anything but her underwear.

"Morning soldier". Quistis looked towards the source of the voice. She saw Seifer walk in from the bathroom. He was smiling, but not in a good way. He was smiling in that smug, self-satisfied grin that never to failed infuriate Quistis.

"Why am I here?" Quistis asked. She frowned sharply at Seifer.

"Because you came knocking on my door late last night" Seifer answered.

"Excuse me?" asked Quistis.

"You couldn't sleep" Seifer explained. "And you wanted to thank me for saving your life yesterday".

"Okay" said Quistis. She looked under the covers at herself. "How _did_ I thank you?" she asked, cringing.

"Oh yeah, that" said Seifer. "The whole striptease bit was great". He grinned happily. "Thanks".

"Oh gods" said Quistis, slumping her head forward. She looked back up at Seifer. "That was all, right?". She cringed again.

"No" Seifer said loudly, elongating the word. Quistis head fell into her hands. "You didn't do anything at all, not even that bit I said before".

"Really?" asked Quistis.

"Really" said Seifer.

"Oh, thank gods" Quistis sighed. She looked up at Seifer suddenly. "Then why aren't I wearing any clothes?"

"You seem angry" said Seifer, grinning.

"Just answer the question" Quistis ordered.

"You mumbled something about not wanting to get your dress creased or something" Seifer explained. Quistis frowned and Seifer could tell she wasn't buying his story. "You were half-asleep but you were still your same old adamant self" Seifer said. "I wasn't gonna piss you off" he added. "You still had your whip-thingy with you".

"Okay" Quistis said, finally believing him. Her eyes grew wide and she looked at Seifer again. "We didn't sleep in the same bed, did we?"

"No" said Seifer. "I put you in mine and I stuck a pillow in the tub and slept in that".

"Oh" said Quistis. She felt a stab of guilt for forcing him to sleep in his own bathroom. "Thanks" she said. "That was very nice of you".

"Don't mention it" he said. He turned to walk back into the bathroom but stopped and looked back at Quistis. "By the way" he began. "The, uh" he said while pointing at various parts of his body and nodding his head towards her. Quistis raised her eyebrows. "Awesome" he added with a happy grin.

Quistis sat thinking for a moment as Seifer walked into the bathroom. She frowned, then looked under the covers again. Realisation dawned on her. "No, no, no" she sighed, falling backwards back down into the bed and putting her hands over her face.

Seifer closed the door to the bathroom. He grinned at himself in the mirror. He was amazed at easy it was to infuriate Quistis. Still, what he had just said was true. "Get dressed" he shouted through the door. He looked around his bathroom looking for something to do. Eventually he just decided to wash his hands. Drying them off on a towel, he turned to the door and opened it stepping back into his room. "Hey are you-" he stopped in his tracks. Quistis stood in front of him, wearing her skirt, but not her top. "Oh, I, err" Seifer stuttered. "Sorry" he finally managed, turning away.

"Hell, you've already seen it all anyway" said Quistis. Seifer began to turn back towards her. "That doesn't mean look!" she said angrily. "Damn, it was a joke" she added.

"Sorry" said Seifer, turning away again. "Didn't know humour was in your repertoire".

"Well I suppose you do now" said Quistis, putting on her top and zipping it up. "Done" she said. Seifer turned around. "Why do you want me up and dressed so quickly anyway?" Quistis asked. "Want me out before anyone finds out I'm here?"

"If that was the case I would have taken you back to your room last night" Seifer said. "We've got a briefing in about ten minutes" he said.

"Another mission?" groaned Quistis.

"I have no idea" said Seifer. "Just that we gotta be there soon".

Quistis flattened her skirt down with her hands. "Have you got anything left to do?" she asked.

"Nope" answered Seifer.

"In that case I guess we better get going then" said Quistis.

Seifer nodded and picked up his long coat, putting it on in a continuous motion. He walked to the door and opened. He stepped aside and gestured out the door, looking to Quistis. "Ladies first" he said. Quistis hazarded half a smile and walked outside the door, spinning to look at Seifer as she did.

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this" she said. Seifer screwed his face up and nodded behind Quistis and to her left. "What?" she said confusedly.

"Uh, hi Quisty" said Zell as she turned to him. "How's it goin'?"

Quistis eyes went wide. "Zell" she said in a higher than normal tone. "This isn't what it looks like".

"I, err" Zell faltered. "I wouldn't know what it looks like" he said, offering an uneasy smile. The group fell silent, Zell uncomfortable in the quiet. "So" he began, saying the first thing that came into his head. "You, err, spent the night with-"

"Are you on your way to the briefing as well?" asked Nevaeh, purposefully interrupting Zell.

"Yes" said Seifer definitely. His eyes screamed a 'thanks' to Nevaeh. She cocked her head to the side and gave an expression that read 'don't mention it'.

Seifer pushed Quistis away from Zell and Nevaeh and down the corridor. "Let's go" he said, raising his eyebrows at the two behind him. Zell and Nevaeh followed on confused over what they had just seen.

"What the hell was all that about?" Zell quietly asked Nevaeh.

"I have _no _idea" Nevaeh explained.

The four headed down the corridor towards the lobby. Walking out into the light of the large hall, they headed straight for the elevators. Quistis suddenly turned to Seifer as they walked up the steps. "I didn't kiss you, did I?" asked Quistis. "Tell me I didn't kiss you" she added. Seifer looked at her for a moment. He smiled, the softest and most gentle smile she'd ever seen him make.

"No" he said. "You didn't kiss me" he assured her.

* * * *

The Intelligence Centre buzzed with electric activity again. Monitors displayed any number of statistics and photos, Squall and Lain looking over them carefully. Laguna stood behind them, looking uninterested in what the screens where displaying. Nida was next to him, also looking at the screens. Fourteen SeeDs sat at fourteen separate work stations running through preparations for the communication about to begin.

As Squall and Lain continued to discuss the information on the screens, Laguna and Nida turned to the sound of doors opening at the back of the room. Irvine and Selphie walked through, Irvine looking as normal while Selphie looked slightly tired. "Mornin' people" said Irvine. Selphie managed a laboured wave.

Squall turned around at the sound of Irvine's greeting. He nodded an acknowledgement

"What's this all about?" asked Irvine.

"I'll tell you when the others get here, or rather, Lain will" Squall replied.

Selphie and Irvine walked over to Nida. "You know what this is about?" Irvine asked.

"I do, yes" said Nida, his gaze not moving from the monitors showing yet more statistics in front of him.

"But, you're not gonna tell me, are ya?" said Irvine, half-knowing, half-guessing.

Nida finally turned to Irvine. "No" he grinned.

The doors to the Intelligence Centre slid open again, immediately commanding the attention of all in the room other than the fourteen SeeD's sat at their stations. Through the doors walked Quistis and Seifer, immediately followed by Zell and Nevaeh. They nodded various greeting to people in the room and stood next to Irvine and Selphie.

"Right" said Squall. "Now that we're all here, Lain?"

Lain nodded, and walked to the front of the large table that sat in the middle of the room. "If you would all please take a seat" he said, gesturing to the group. The team all sat down around the table. "Now you may, or may not remember" Lain paused and smirked. "That yesterday evening we received intelligence suggesting that the group that has been causing so much trouble recently is possibly based in Southern Galbadia" Lain pointed to a map of Galbadia showing on the large screen at the front of the room. Four markers were situated in the Southern part of the country. "After you left last night, myself, Commander Leonhart, Lieutenant Yahti and President Loire held a meeting with President Caraway" Lain explained. "He agreed that something must be done about the faction and proposed to send a special forces team to the largest of four facilities in the South in order to try and gain some grip on the situation" Lain paused for breath. "You are all here this morning to witness that operation".

"Sir" said one of the intelligence officers sat at one of the stations. Lain turned to her. "The feed is ready" she said. "The mission is about to start".

"Up on the main screen please, Corporal" said Lain, walking round one side of the table and taking an empty seat.

The screen at the front flickered, then slowly formed a more coherent image. The picture was an almost fluorescent shade of green, and was shaking around rapidly. "Please understand that it is still in the very early hours of the morning in Galbadia, hence the night vision" Lain explained. The camera is attached to the squad leaders helmet so you'll have to excuse the shaky picture" he added.

The group watched on as the camera headed down what looked like a dimly lit, bland concrete hallway. "They're already in?" asked Laguna.

"It would appear so" Lain replied.

The group sat around the table watched as the shot on the screen came to the end of the hallway. "I see a door" they heard a voice, probably the team leader's, say. "Fibre-optics, up front" he said, trying his best to remain quiet while still trying to be heard by his team. A soldier came into view on the screen, kneeling down in front of the door. He held a small portable screen in his hand. A wire lead out of the top of the screen, the other end of which the soldier was currently threading underneath the door.

"Seems quiet" the soldier said. "There's a lot of boxes and debris though, visibility is poor". He pulled the wire back out from under the door, moving backwards and out of range of the camera immediately afterwards.

The speakers in the Intelligence Centre fell silent for moment. "Jarrs, up here now" the squad leader's voice eventually rang out through the speakers. A huge, stocky soldier appeared in view. "On my mark, you breach the door and we enter and clear". The large soldier, 'Jarrs', nodded at what seemed like the camera, though he was in fact nodding at the squad leader. Jarrs set himself into a stance, ready to charge through the door. "Now" the squad leader said. Jarrs shifted his weight backwards hen forwards, lifting his right leg and kicking against the door as hard as he could. The door opened easily under the force of the giant figure, flying off of its hinges and somewhere into room, out of sight. The camera quickly headed into the room, a rifle now held out in front of it, the view looking in all directions quickly. "Looks clear" the squad leaders voice said. The view turned back to the doorway through which it had came, showing six other soldiers quickly and quietly making their way into the room.

"Sir, look out" Jarrs' voice suddenly boomed, a gunshot ringing out quickly afterwards. A low, pained grunt could be heard, obviously Jarrs, then the camera shot suddenly reeled backwards up to the ceiling as if the squad leader was falling. The feed went dead, the main screen at the front of the room a mess of static.

Lain frowned, twisting in his chair to look at the intelligence officer that he had spoken to earlier. "Corporal?" he said confusedly.

"We've lost the feed sir" the Corporal explained. "I don't know what happened" she added.

"Keep on it" said Lain. He turned back to face the group sat round the table.

"That didn't sound good" said Zell.

"No it didn't" Irvine agreed.

"What do we do now?" asked Nevaeh.

"There's not much we can do about the feed" said Lain.

"Let's just be patient" said Squall. "Wait and see if we can get the feed back".

The group sat in silence. While Quistis looked at Lain, then at Squall, Laguna twiddled his thumbs and Seifer leant way back into his chair. Selphie stood up and walked over to the Corporal's workstation. She rested her hand on the hand on the headrest of the Corporal's chair, bending forwards to look at the monitor in front of her. "Is it something wrong at our end of the communications?" Selphie asked.

"I don't think so" the Corporal answered. "All diagnostic tools are coming up normal".

"What about tracing beacons?" asked Selphie.

"Nothing" a male SeeD sat in the workstation two feet to her left said. "We're not picking them up at all". The monitor in front of him showed a map of the infrastructure the Galbadian team had entered. It was only partially completed, the only parts shown being those the the special forces team had actually entered and been through. Selphie assumed that the SeeD had been creating the map as the mission had occurred.

Selphie stood up straight again. She turned around and walked back to the table. "Can we get in touch with the Galbadian mission headquarters?" she asked Lain as she sat back down in her seat.

"I'm afraid not" Lain answered. "We haven't even talked to them yet" he added. "We were just sent instructions for patching into the feed and that's it".

"A little unsociable" Seifer stated.

"That it is" Lain agreed. "But, maybe they'll try to contact us".

"So we just sit around and wait to hear from them?" asked Laguna.

"If it's such a chore then whoever wants to can leave" said Squall. He seemed annoyed.

"Oh thank gods for that" said Irvine, pushing himself up out of his chair. He looked at Selphie.

"I think I'm gonna stay" she said.

"Suit yourself" Irvine answered.

Nevaeh stood up, shortly followed by Zell and Seifer. "I'm gonna go and find breakfast" said Nevaeh. "Call me back if regain the feed or get word from Galbadia HQ" she added. Lain nodded. Seifer merely walked past the two and left, not bothering to say anything.

* * * *

Irvine walked out of the elevator that had just brought him up from the basement where the Intelligence Centre was situated. He walked down the steps towards the directory. Despite choosing to leave the Intelligence Centre, he didn't really have any clue as to what he was going to do instead. In any case, he wasn't interested in all that technical mumbo-jumbo. If they wanted him to shoot something, he'd do it. If they wanted him to travel trough time, he'd do it. But he wouldn't sit a room bored out of his mind while technology failed around him. His lack of patience with electronics as a whole would infuriate Selphie sometimes. But that was only because she had a tendency to spout complete jargon at him, and do it really, really fast.

As he approached the the directory in the large center of the Garden, he only just noticed the crowd of young girls behind it. Noticing one girl in particular, he quickly turned and walked the other way. Taking several steps, he was confident that he'd avoided attracting any attention.

"IRVINE" he heard a shrill voice call out. He had no choice but to turn around.

"Hi, Yeula" Irvine said, confronted with a girl wearing a SeeD uniform running toward him at full pace. When she finally got close enough she threw herself at him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Irvine half-heartedly returned the hug, breaking it as soon as possible and taking a step away from the near hysterical girl.

"How are you doing?" the girl, Yeula, asked over-enthusiastically. "I haven't seen you in so long".

"Oh, it can't have been that long can it?" asked Irvine.

"No it's been" the girl paused, adding up in her head. "Well, quite a long time, anyway".

"Really?" asked Irvine. Yeula nodded. "It doesn't seem that long" Irvine added.

"How have you been, what's been going on?" Yeula asked. She was still speaking very loudly, despite the fact that herself and Irvine were stood no more than three feet from each other.

"Not much" said Irvine eager to get out of the conversation.

"Oh, c'mon" said the girl, not believing his answer. "You, the best SeeD in the Garden, haven't been doing anything lately?" she asked.

"Well, I've seen a friend shot and almost killed and had someone try to assassinate me while I was out for dinner" Irvine answered truthfully.

The girl frowned and looked him up and down. Eventually she smirked. "You're important but not _that_ important" she said. "You're such a fibber" she added with a giggle.

"That I am" said Irvine with a laboured laugh that ended up sounding more like a sigh. The girl didn't seem notice. In fact, she seemed to be looking up the steps past Irvine.

"Aren't those your friends?" she asked frowning.

Irvine turned around, spotting Zell and Nevaeh walking down the steps towards. Seifer could be seen behind. Zell was grinning like an idiot at Irvine. He'd obviously already surveyed the situation and he certainly knew the score. Irvine silently mouthed the words 'save me' at Zell.

Zell led Nevaeh over to where Irvine and Yeula stood. "Hi" Zell said to Irvine. He looked past Irvine to Yeula. "Hello" he said.

"Hi" Yeula returned the greeting, again somewhat over-enthusiastically.

"Listen" began Zell, looking back to Irvine and speaking before Yeula had a chance to say anything else. "I've got some work to do and I'd really like it you'd help me" he said.

"Oh" began Irvine. "I see" he added. "Well in that case I'll be right there Captain" he finished with a grin.

"Thank you Captain" said Zell with a grin. He turned and himself and Nevaeh headed past Irvine and Yeula towards the main entrance of the Garden.

"Well, I guess I gotta go" said Irvine. "I'll see ya round" he added, then stepped into a jog to catch up to Zell and Nevaeh.

"Oh" said Yeula, slightly surprised. She turned to watch him run away. "Well I'll talk to you soon" she called after him. "TAKE CARE IRVINE" she shouted.

Irvine caught up to the couple in front of him. "Thank you sooooo much" he said to Zell.

"You're welcome, _Captain_ Kinneas" Zell replied.

"Honestly man, you're a life saver" Irvine explained. The three continued to walk towards the exit of the Garden. "So, erm, were are you headed?" asked Irvine.

"We're gonna go into Balamb for breakfast" answered Nevaeh.

"I'll probably visit my Mom too" Zell added. "For some reason I get the feeling we're gonna be on the move again soon".

"You mean Garden?" asked Nevaeh.

"Yeah" said Zell. "This bird's gonna fly again soon" he explained, looking all around his surroundings.

"Just to like, keep up appearances to Yeula and that" Irvine began. "Can I maybe tag along with you into Balamb?"

"I don't see why not" answered Nevaeh.

"But you'll probably get bored" said Zell.

Irvine frowned and looked at Zell. "Hell no man" he contested. "I can just sit around somewhere quiet and be perfectly happy".

* * *

Author's Note: - Well, there's 13. I'm not happy with the way this chapter ended, but I got a little lost, and it still feels like a reasonably logical finishing point. No one wants to read about how Irvine, Nevaeh and Zell walked to Balamb! In any case, sorry this one took a while but I've been working on a lot of other stuff away from my writing recently, and also have about three or four writing projects going on as well. Hopefully the story should soon pick up and actually start to go somewhere now. Having read through it all the way, I realise how stationary its become. It hasn't progressed as far as timeline is concerned as much as I would have liked. 

Anyway, there should be the first chapter of a new fic of mine on fanfiction.net pretty soon. Fans of Resident Evil are hopefully in for a treat, but please to be put off if you are not familiar with the games. The fic doesn't focus on any of the characters or complex story lines from them. Its merely based off of them, so people with no experience in the Res Evil world can hopefully enjoy it as well. I personally think its far better than Historical Bonds in terms of the quality of the narrative. Unfortunately, to implement the same type of quality in HB would ruin the feel of the story and continuity so it will stay as it is - Simple but good (Hopefully). Anyway, please keep a look out for the Res Evil fic. It would be greatly appreciated if you could review it when it comes online, and HB will continue regardless, so no need to worry there! 

The next chapter should see a few more details about our mysterious villain revealed! Thanks for continuing to read and review! 

C ya soon... 


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